THE DRUNKEN PIGS. 
578 
gallons. They ate it all up with avidity, and did not appear to 
be in the least inconvenienced by it; but on the following morn¬ 
ing they were found stretched motionless on their litter, and 
seemingly dead. They were dragged out of the stye, in order 
to be buried, when some one said that he thought they yet 
continued to breathe, and their owner left them on some straw in 
the court. 
Happening to pass that way in order to visit some patients, 
says M. Tester, a French veterinary surgeon, the owner request¬ 
ed me to look at them, saying that he had no hope of saving 
them. 
They were lying on their side, the four extremities stretched 
out, and it was with great difficulty that the slightest motion of 
the flank could be perceived. When they were moved, they 
exhibited no sign of consciousness or life, but lay just as they 
were placed. 
On a more careful examination of them, the pulse could be 
detected ; but it was impossible to count the beatings, on account 
of their extreme feebleness. The skin was of a deep red colour, 
and the eyes were much injected. 
I gave to each of them a glass of warm water, and ordered frictions 
to be made on the abdomen, and slight pressure on the epigastric 
region, in order to provoke vomiting, and which in a little time 
produced the desired effect. 
We then administered half a dozen drops of hartshorn to each 
of them in a little water; and soon afterwards they began more 
evidently to breathe. We left them undisturbed for about two 
hours, and then recommenced our frictions and pressure, and 
administered more of the ammonia. They now raised themselves 
on their fore-legs, and remained in that position a little while, 
but without power of further motion. They fell once more, and 
we had some trouble in getting them on their haunches again. 
We once more attempted to get them on their legs by pressing 
our hands under the epigastrium, when the pressure that w^e 
made on the region of the stomach caused fresh vomiting. At 
length they began to grunt a little, and staggered away, running 
against every thing in their path; and, finally, having wasted 
half a day in different attempts to sober them, and having given 
to each of them a pint of orange-flower w'ater and twenty-two 
drops of ammonia, we left them to themselves; but it was not 
until after three days that they could be considered as perfectly 
recovered. 
This case is valuable, as confirming the power of ammonia 
when the drunkenness is occasioned by liquors impregnated with 
alcohol. In a similar case we should not hesitate to give it by 
