556 CONTRIBUTIONS TO VETERINARY MEDICINE. 
the back and neck, draws the head in towards the chest, and 
opens her mouth, the abdominal muscles keeping up pro¬ 
longed pressure on their contents. A greenish chymous fluid 
is quietly ejected from the mouth and nostrils, but not by 
any sudden retching or gulping. I considered the case one 
of indigestion, and gave a little Ammon. Arom. Comp., and 
afterwards Hydrarg. cum Creta, followed by a mild laxative. 
She was well again in two or three days; but subsequently 
had frequent attacks of indigestion, being a greedy feeder, 
although this was the only time she had vomited. 
Mr. Hartley told me that a bay mare, which I perfectly 
well remember (1847), was frequently in the habit of vomit¬ 
ing, and assumed the same position under the act as that I 
have described. The only other case I know of, was one 
witnessed by Mr. J. T. Lee, m.r.c.v.s. (now in London) : it 
belonged to a Mr. Ingram, a railway contractor. 
In reading your very interesting review of Mr. Gamgee’s 
c Inquiry/ the impossibility of reproducing all the circum¬ 
stances necessary for obtaininga satisfactory experiment, struck 
me forcibly. For instance, in the living animal pressure is 
exerted on every part of the external surface of the stomach. 
This was very far from being the case in the experiments nar¬ 
rated. The pressure received from the surface of the table and 
superimposed board, would be equally divided over the in¬ 
terior surface of the stomach, because fluids press equally in 
every direction. This will be plainer seen by reversing the 
experiment, and considering how easily the stomach may be 
ruptured by pumping water into it. Again, there is every 
reason to believe the sphincter at the cardiac orifice, to be 
under a special nervous control; otherwise, why should we 
have such a well-defined circular band of muscular fibres 
there ? This sphincter, by contraction, is clearly a mecha¬ 
nical obstacle, and the contraction seems to be regulated by 
the nervous system of the animal. This fact alone makes the 
extra-corporeal experiments useless. 
I am inclined to think, Mr. Gamgee underrates the import¬ 
ance of the part, the state or condition of the stomach, plays 
in the causation of vomition. In the case I witnessed, the 
animal was a voracious eater, and constantly suffering from 
indigestion. In the case reported to me by Mr. Hartley, I 
personally knew her also to be worse than the other. For 
the third case, I refer the reader to Mr. Lee. In that, 
reported by Mons. Sanson, in last month’s Journal, the 
stomach was diseased, and also in some more of the cases 
reported in c The Veterinarian and I have no doubt, if 
Veterinarians would be kind enough to record the cases they 
have seen, two things would be made out:— 
