66 
ON THE USE OF THE STOMACH PUMP. 
water, or other innoxious medicine; and I wish to mention 
cathartics in particular, as I am convinced that the operation of 
aloes will be very greatly faciliated by being* given in a state of 
solution. I mean not only expedited, but rendered far less 
likely to produce partial irritation in the stomach, and small intes¬ 
tines, as very often happens when a ball is given, and the chance 
of failure is prevented, which sometimes arises when the medi¬ 
cine passes through the stomach without having been sufficiently 
dissolved to produce the wished for effect on that important and 
sympathetic organ. I have no wish to relate the particulars of 
a case where a female had taken a strong solution of oxalic acid, 
in which I was as fortunate in the use of the pump as I have 
been in its application in several cases in the practice of my own 
profession ; one or two of which I will briefly detail, in the hope 
that the apparatus may (divested of the plausibility of its more 
diffusible utility) be considered to possess as much novelty as 
will recommend it to the notice of every veterinarian: and 1 do 
not hesitate to say, that all who add it to their number of instru¬ 
ments will, as I have done, find it a very great acquisition. 
The first case I shall mention is one of tetanus. I was, in the 
year 1828, requested to see a six-year old mare, that was said to 
be “ stiff and unable to eat.” On examining the animal, 1 found 
she was suffering the horrors of tetanus, and had, as the groom 
expressed, “ been getting worse for the space of three days.” 
I made every search for a perceptible cause, but was unsuccess- 
full; and from her history I could not find any thing in the shape 
of a probable cause, except her having beer exposed to a very 
inclement night’s weather. Having no locality to sooth or dis¬ 
turb, I attacked the whole frame. I introduced setons, with an. 
ointment of corrosive sublimate, on each side of the spine, from 
the ears to the posterior part of the loins. I requested that simple 
enemas should lie given every half hour (if regularly discharged), 
until the bowels became relaxed. I then introduced the oeso¬ 
phagus-tube through the side of the mouth, and injected a 
solution of aloes, equal to six drachms, into the stomach; after 
which I injected three quarts of warm water. With a request 
that the patient might be as little disturbed as possible, and in 
particular that she might not be exposed to the great excitement 
which loud or sudden noises produced, I left her in the early 
part of the afternoon. Next morning I visited the mare again, 
and found that the symptoms were as violent as on the preced¬ 
ing day; but that the cathartic dose had had the wished for effect, 
with the only difference of a more drastic power in the quantity 
of aloes than I ever observed under similar circumstances. The 
animal evinced great thirst, and when offered water was unable 
