RUPTURED STOMACH IN THE HORSE. 
273 
was directed closer to the shoulder than is commonly the case when 
colic is the cause of suffering. The stable being both dark and 
confined, I got her moved the length of the door, to see her better. 
I then observed, she was a good deal swollen, and believed that 
tympanitis had more to do with the case than spasmodic colic. 
I next tried to get a few quarts of blood from her, thinking it might 
possibly render some relief; but not a vein could be made to rise. 
The circulation upon the surface by this time appeared to have 
ceased, and I could not get more than about a quart, which was but 
of little use in any case where blood-letting might be beneficial. 
In the course of a few minutes she staggered and fell, to rise no 
more, for she died very shortly afterwards. The whole case was 
yet involved in the same mystery as at the beginning. 
The mare had long been in the very highest condition, and ap¬ 
peared in the enjoyment of the best of health. She had been fed 
the evening before at five o’clock, and went to Montreal, about 
three miles, with a light gig, to bring home her master, who re¬ 
turned with her about eight o’clock, without ever requiring to 
make the slightest use of his whip. She was put into the stable, 
cleaned, and fed, without noticing that any thing was wrong, till it 
was observed she refused either to eat or drink. She soon became 
very uneasy, rising and lying down again every few minutes 
during the whole night; moaning piteously, and discharging a 
vast quantity of saliva or mucus from her mouth whenever she 
stood up. 
A post-mortem examination soon brought the whole secret to 
light, by shewing that the mare’s death was caused by a ruptured 
stomach. For as soon as the abdominal muscles and faschia 
were divided, the contents of that viscus were found scattered over 
all the other viscera of the abdomen, and the rupture extended 
from the margin of the cuticular coat towards the right or small 
end, to within a few inches of the pylorus, measuring eighteen 
inches in length along the large curvature. The peritoneal or 
outer coat appears first to have given way, as it had shrunk at 
least two inches on each side of the lesion, which was inflamed, 
filled with extravasated blood, with a quantity coagulated, and 
adhering to the surface and edges of the rupture. 
Sundry wounds and abrasions were found upon the cuticular 
surface, one of which was not less than four inches long; others 
were like punctures made with the point of a lancet. The whole 
villous portion of the stomach was in a state of inflammation, and 
looked as if it had been corroded and eaten in sundry places. The 
cuts and abrasions upon the cuticular coat led me to think that the 
mare might have swallowed a piece of broken bottle or some such 
sharp substance, which had rolled and moved about in the stomach 
till it had injured the internal coats in the manner described. To 
