378 TVMPANITIS CURED BY PUNCTURE. 
the tongue dry, the hair staring, and there had not been for 
some time any evacuation either of urine or faecal matter. Evi- 
»/• 
dent colic had followed a full feed on coarse grass. 
I foresaw that I should have a serious case to deal with, ag¬ 
gravated by the bleeding that had so incautiously been made. 
My treatment consisted in the administration of bitter and 
stimulating drinks, coffee, some emetic tartar, and the continued 
application of friction to the belly. This was continued during 
the night without producing the slighest amendment. The belly, 
on the contrary, became more distended; the flanks filled 
out; the respiration was increasingly laborious, and the animal 
trembled all over. 
At four O'clock in the morning the patient was stretched on 
the litter, and threatened with immediate suffocation. The cold¬ 
ness of the extremities, the imperceptible pulse, and the appear¬ 
ance and manner of the horse, announced approaching death. 
I did not hesitate for a moment to propose puncture of the 
intestine, to which the proprietor consented. I then, having 
taken the usual precautions, which it would be superfluous to 
detail here, plunged my trocar, sheathed by its canula, into the 
right side of the animal. As soon as I had withdrawn the instru¬ 
ment from its sheath, the gas rushed out violently, making a 
loud and remarkable hissing noise. The flank began gradually 
to subside; the respiration was more easy, and the horse was 
relieved. After having effected the entire expulsion of the gas, 
I found, on pressing the belly gently round the artificial opening, 
that there ran from the canula a green liquid, which appeared to 
be juice of the grass which the horse had eaten so eagerly; and 
there were also some portions of the grass that had not under¬ 
gone any sensible alteration. 
Twenty minutes after the operation the horse was so much re¬ 
lieved that I pronounced him to be out of danger. I withdrew 
the canula, and placed a little adhesive plaister over the wound 
in order to prevent the entrance of the external air into the abdo¬ 
men. Compresses were fitted over the plaister the better to secure 
it, and the animal was covered with a woollen cloth. The colic 
had ceased from the moment of the operation. The horse re¬ 
mained some time in a state of slight somnolence, and then the 
pulse began again to be developed. An hour afterwards, 
the animal voided an enormous quantity of pultaceous excrement, 
which had a most offensive smell. It contained in it a consider¬ 
able quantity of oats unbruised by mastication, and the residue 
consisted of coarse grass imperfectly masticated, and on which 
the process of digestion had scarcely commenced. 
Having now no more to fear from the bleeding so untimely 
