FROM THE ABDOMEN OF A DOG. 647 
was covered partly by a thin and smooth brown deposit, and 
partly by oxide of iron irregularly deposited : the prongs, w r hich 
had been enveloped in the mesocolon, were oxidized through 
their whole extent; and in many places were eaten deeply into, 
w T ith many grooves, more or less marked, and running parallel 
with the length of the fork. 
M. Nicolas now took charge of the dog : he kept him low, 
and administered emollient injections. There was some fever, 
and swelling of the lips of the wound, and hot and painful 
enlargement of the genital organs. On examining the wound 
five days afterwards, the stitches had given w T ay, and a con¬ 
siderable quantity of pus was found between the integument 
and the muscular parietes of the belly, the incision through 
which was already closed. Other stitches were passed through 
the integument, but they also gave way two days afterwards, 
and the wound was then abandoned to Nature and to the dog, 
who was continually licking it, and who thus kept it in a healthy 
state. The swelling of the penis and scrotum diminished, and, 
twenty days after the operation, not only was the wound healed, 
but the patient had began to acquire condition. No pain was 
expressed when the parts of the belly which had been occupied 
by the fork were pressed upon. The dog was used again as be¬ 
fore, and had not lost one of its good qualities. 
At the time of the operation the fork was no longer in the 
intestinal canal. It had probably perforated the stomach, and 
escaped into the abdominal cavity about the third day after the 
accident, and w 7 hen the animal evinced such decided symptoms 
of amendment: it then became entangled in the mesocolon, 
where it remained until the operation. The attempt of M. Terris 
to force it along, produced some laceration or other injury, 
evinced by the temporary illness of the dog, and the vomiting 
of blood. It is also evident, that the fork would never have es¬ 
caped from the abdomen by any effort of Nature, but would have 
eventually destroyed the dog. 
Rec. de Med . Vet. 1834. 
