84 RUPTURED AND DECOMPOSED STOMACH IN A COLT. 
who all at once seemed to lose his cheerfulness, stopped, and 
suffered me to go up to him. His coat was staring ; the skin 
a little tight upon the rib ; considerable dulness of countenance, 
and much listlessness of manner. The pulse was about 40, and 
of rather an irritable character, if I may so express myself. 
These symptoms, I must confess, together with others dis¬ 
covered on my further examination of him, did not at all prepare 
me for the sudden and fatal termination of the disease. He with 
much effort voided a small quantity of hard black dung, coated 
with mucus, and streaked with blood; and as I walked beside 
him he grunted once or twice, which I considered to be from 
pain in the bowels. My first object was to relieve them : accord¬ 
ingly we removed him into a warm shed, and administered laxa¬ 
tive medicine, clysters, &c. 
The man left him at 9 o’clock p.m., not considering him at all 
worse; he drank some water and ate a small quantity of bran 
mash. 
In the morning he was found dead and stiff, having appa¬ 
rently fallen and died without a struggle. 
I was requested to see him opened. There was very great 
extrication of gas, which, on dividing the abdominal muscles, 
escaped, carrying with it portions of ill-digested food to an 
almost incredible distance. From this circumstance I suspected 
that some portion of the intestine had been opened ; but on further 
exposure of the abdominal cavity, immense quantities of this 
indigested matter were presented to view, distributed almost all 
over the bowels, and closely impacted between their folds, and 
in which situation it had doubtless been some days. It was very 
hard and dark-coloured, evincing the degree of pressure that 
had been applied. There remained of the stomach a narrow 
slip only, which served as a medium of connexion between the 
oesophagus and the duodenum, and this was nearly decomposed. 
The right kidney was very much congested, and black. All the 
other viscera, both abdominal and thoracic, were healthy, except 
the single colon, which contained a large portion of hard dung. 
This bowel had undergone much inflammatory action, as well as 
those parts of the peritoneum, which were in contact with the 
food. The brain was not examined. 
I am quite at a loss to account for the very imperfect indication 
of disease during life, considering that the decomposition and 
absolute destruction of so important an organ as the stomach 
was rapidly going on. 
Cause .—The only probable cause of such a disease that 
I can possibly imagine is, that for one or two nights prior to the 
first symptoms of illness, or at least of their being noticed, there 
