TYMPANITIS CURED BY PUNCTURE. 379 
practised, and in order to guard against the reaction which might 
possibly follow, I abstracted six pounds of blood. I ordered thin 
gruel, made of barley-meal and containing a little salt, to be given 
from time to time, with a small portion of boiled carrots: all 
other food was forbidden. I also prescribed occasional injec¬ 
tions, and the fomenting of the side on which the operation had 
been performed with infusion of linseed, and to keep the animal 
warm. This regimen was strictly followed during fifteen days, 
at the expiration of which the wound was completely healed. 
The horse remains well to the present day. 
This case, and another precisely like it, but into the detail of 
which I will not enter, prove to me,— 
Is^. That intestinal paracentesis in colic complicated with 
flatulence is not so dangerous as it has been generally thought 
to be ; and 
2d. That it is useful, nay, indispensable, when the presence 
of gas in the intestine causes a suspension of the digestive func¬ 
tions, and especially when the swelling is considerable, and the 
animal threatened with suffocation. In the last case, I punc¬ 
tured the intestine twice, and twice produced relief, and eventu¬ 
ally saved the patient. Nevertheless, I am inclined to think that 
it should only be employed as a last resource, and when the 
death of the animal would be otherwise inevitable. Bleeding 
ought never to be neglected after the operation, when the faeces 
have been evacuated, and the diet should be strictly attended to 
for some days. 
We may, perhaps, trace the advantage resulting from puncture 
of the intestine to two circumstances—the entire escape of the 
gas, which would oppose a powerful obstacle to the process of 
digestion; and the rapid and powerful motion of the intestine, 
which, returning to its former size, presses upon the alimentary 
matter contained in it, and urges it forward in its natural course. 
This pressure of the intestine is the object sought to be produced 
by the stimulant or purgative substances given before or after the 
operation. On both the horses on which I operated, copious 
alvine dejections very soon followed the puncture. 
Rec. de MM. Vet., Avril 1835. 
ON PUNCTURE OF THE INTESTINE. 
By Professor Vatel, of Alfort. 
The instruments necessary for this operation are those em¬ 
ployed in tlic puncture of the rumen, only the trocar should be 
