OBSTRUCTION IN THE ALIMENTARY CANAL. : 59 
however, passed their verdict upon her, end declered thut she 
was witched, dented, elf-shot, tail-slipped, or weeded ; all 
diseases common among that class of persons whom I denomi¬ 
nate knights ot witchcraft and quackery. 
18th .—She died. The abdominal viscera generally were dis¬ 
eased ; the gall-bladder was distended with dark bile ; the paunch 
adhered anteriorly to the diaphragm, and on cutting upon it 
there appeared to be a fistulous opening through the diaphragm. 
Three gallons of green fluid were contained in the thorax. The 
pericardium was enormously distended, and full of yellow cream- 
coloured fluid to the amount of three gallons and half a pint; 
and in it was a piece of wire three inches and a half long, seeming 
to be half of a hair pin. The pericardium was thickened, and 
on an average an inch thick. The external surface of the heart 
yellow and incrusted. 
SINGULAR OBSTRUCTION OF THE ALIMENTARY 
CANAL IN A MARE. 
J By the same. 
On the 27th of March, 1834, I was requested, about seven 
o’clock, a.m., by a farmer near this place, to visit an aged mare ; 
but being called previously to a distance of seven miles, I did 
not return till about three o’clock, p.m., half an hour previous to 
which a message was left that I was not now wanted. On the 
following day, about two o’clock, p.xW., the owner of the mare 
came to me, saying he was sorry that I could not be found 
yesterday, as his mare was no better, and had eaten nothing 
since the morning of the 26th. She had ploughed that day, 
but was very dull ; she had had no evacuation since that 
time. He had watched her on the night of the 26th ; she 
was. only down once. He gave her nothing, still putting it off as 
long as he could (truly so, until death was at hand), and, when 
I could not be had, sent for a smith, who gave her, on the 27th, 
half a bottle of lamp oil, and half an ounce of croton oil after it, 
and w r as of opinion that she w'ould soon be better. He also 
ordered another half bottle of lamp oil to be given in the evening, 
if she had not a passage by that time. There had been no pas¬ 
sage this morning, and the farmer again went to the smith, and 
informed him that she was no better. The smith gave him a 
recipe, which he handed to me, containing three ounces of castor 
oil, half an ounce of croton oil, an ounce of laudanum, and two 
ounces of turpentine, which he was to procure, and put into her as 
he could* He had tried, he said, to pat it down her throat, but 
