274 
RUPTURED STOMACH IN THE HORSE. 
see if I could discover any thing in the stomach or intestinal canal 
to justify my opinion, I cut open the whole canal from the begin¬ 
ning of the duodenum to the termination of the colon in the rec¬ 
tum, without finding any thing to cause such injury. However, 
failing in one object, I discovered another, which ought not to be 
overlooked. The whole course of the small intestines, from the 
stomach to their termination in the coecum, were perfectly empty ; 
but I found their mucous coats much thickened, without discoloura¬ 
tion, and containing sundry pints of white matter, something like 
flour boiled with milk, which emitted a very offensive smell. It 
was a diseased mucous secretion, and must have been going on for 
some time. All the other viscera of the abdomen and chest were 
perfectly healthy; but a few gallons of serous fluid, slightly tinged 
with blood, were found in the first-mentioned cavity. 
In conclusion, I may remark, that, from the evidently diseased 
state of the mare’s stomach, &c. the process of digestion must have 
been tardy and defective, even though she appeared fat and in 
good health. From having been fed the previous evening, and 
driven to town immediately afterwards with a full stomach, fer¬ 
mentation most probably took place, and, consequently, gaseous 
distention of the stomach, &c. Though I have not been able to 
assure myself that the first symptoms of this case were those of 
tympanitis, yet I am of opinion that if proper assistance had been 
called in time, this would not have been found to have been the 
case, and probably the mare would have been saved. For it is my 
belief, the stomach was ruptured before I saw her that morning. 
And from the violent manner in which, I was informed, she tossed 
about, and threw herself down and rolled on the ground, it was 
more than sufficient to have burst the parietes of the stomach 
while in a state of distention, and caused her death by that means 
rather than bv distention alone, from the accumulation of either 
food or gas in the stomach. 
I have only met with two other cases of ruptured stomach dur¬ 
ing the whole course of my practice. One case was caused by 
over gorging the stomach with raw potatoes ; the other from eating 
hot grains, and drinking wash at a distillery. But the symptoms 
in those cases had nothing in common with the present one, except 
the imperceptible pulse, the general tremor, and cold sweat. 
Introsusception in the Horse. 
The case referred to took place on the 18th May last: the sub¬ 
ject was a chestnut gelding, five years old, the property of a gentle¬ 
man in this city. The horse had been under treatment twelve or 
fourteen days for strangles, or what is termed here by the French, 
“ La Gourme It was a case of the very mildest form, and with- 
