110 
REPORT OF THE ROYAL 
ther, sometimes even to the groin and the scrotum, and causes 
ravages which, like peritonitis and enteritis caused or aggra¬ 
vated by the use of the knife in operation, are each sufficient to 
produce death. 
Suspecting that the trochar which is commonly used in these 
operations is the principal cause of ill success, we have in one 
case attempted to give vent to the gas which distended the intes¬ 
tine with an instrument much smaller in diameter. With this 
instrument, in spite of being compelled to operate twice on the 
same horse, he was cured without the occurrence of any of the 
accidents that have been alluded to. 
We should, then, recommend to veterinarians to make use of 
a trochar as small as possible in similar cases, by means of which 
they can, with the greatest ease, give vent to the intestinal gas; 
and perhaps, like us, may obtain, under favourable circumstances, 
the same success. 
4th. In three horses, two of which were treated in our in¬ 
firmary, and the third at the post stables, very violent palpita¬ 
tions of the heart were observable. These palpitations were not 
only perceptible from the shaking of the frame from one end to 
the other, but still more by a sound that could not be misunder¬ 
stood. 
In two of these horses the palpitations seemed to be entirely of 
nervous origin, and constituted the whole disease; for with the 
exception of a difficulty of accomplishing the circulation, all the 
other functions were perfectly healthy. In the third it was easy 
to be perceived, that the disease was connected with the digestive 
process; the mouth was clammy and hot, the tongue covered 
with a greyish mucus, the appetite diminished, and the mus¬ 
cular strength depressed. The force with which the heart acted 
lasted but eight days, and then gradually diminished in the first 
two patients. In the third the beatings of the heart, which had 
diminished in a very remarkable manner towards the fourth day, 
shewed themselves afterwards with increased intensity, and forced 
us to commence the most active treatment anew. 
This treatment consisted in general bleedings from the jugular, 
and proportioned to the strength of the patient, his age, and the 
