380 INTROSUSCEPTION IN THE HORSE. 
frame at each contraction. At length the beating of the heart 
became weaker, and at 10 a. m. on the following day the ani¬ 
mal died. 
Two hours after death the body was opened. The arch of the 
colon and the point of the coecum were displaced, and thrust to 
the right by the distended stomach, which was treble its natural 
size, and contained twenty-one quarts of fluid similar to that which 
had been discharged by vomiting. Its interior presented nothing 
remarkable except the obliteration of the rugse iu the large ex¬ 
tremity, and the flaccidity of the muscular membrane at tlie car¬ 
diac orifice. At the distance of two feet from the stomach was 
an introsusception (invagination) of the small intestine. Fourteen 
inches of the gut were taken up in a direction towards the large 
intestines, and the mesentery was tom. The mucous membrane 
of this portion of the bow^els presented the most intense inflam¬ 
mation, and, in several patches, gangrene had succeeded to inflam¬ 
mation. The whole of the ilium, and even the colon and coecum, 
displayed considerable .inflammation. The heart had several 
large spots of ecchymosis on the serous membrane of the left ven¬ 
tricle. The velum palati w^as perfect, although the horse had vo¬ 
mited through the mouth. 
M. R. remarks, that introsusception in the horse is, probably, 
of more frequent occurrence than we are aware; and that it was 
here evidently the consequence, and not the cause of inflamma¬ 
tion or spasm. It did not exist on the preceding morning, for 
only a very small portion of the food which the horse had taken was 
found in the stomach. It had passed into the large intestines, 
and even through them,, and had been evacuated. What hin¬ 
dered the passage of the water? After the early part of the pre¬ 
ceding morning no fluid had been received into the stomach ex¬ 
cept two medicinal drinks. Was it theit the pyloric orifice per¬ 
mitted the escape of the partly-digested food, but opposed itself to 
the cold and crude water? We know that it has the power of se¬ 
lection. After a while did the presence of this cold body produce 
spasmodic contraction of the pylorus? and was this tendency to 
spasm rapidly propagated, and an inverted action produced in the 
neighbouring intestine, already, probably, in an irritable and in¬ 
flamed state? 
M. Renault confesses that he is unable to decide the question ; 
nor do we, who are performing the humble offices of translation and 
abridgment, feel disposed to enter into it. The valuable memoir 
of M. Renault cannot fail, however, of supplying matter for much 
reflection. The invagination, connected with the presence of this 
enormous quantity of cold water, and with general mucous in¬ 
flammation; the passage of the food, and the retention of the wa- 
