168 
EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
tenotomy, as showing the value of veterinary surgery, and 
the progress it has made. 
Secondly. Mr. Dyer’s, of comminuted fracture, since it 
is by no means uncommon that, from an accident occurring, 
or violence inflicted on a bone, it shall not be completely 
broken, but only cracked , without any displacement taking 
place, and then some little time afterwards the fracture 
becomes complete, to the surprise of the inexperienced. 
Thirdly . Mr. Fleming’s, of ruptured colon, supposed to 
originate in a puncture caused by a pin. Such is a very 
unusual occurrence, as in the intestines of horses which are 
voracious feeders strange matters will be often found after 
death. We have now lying before us a quantity of these, 
consisting of pins twisted into all forms, portions of nails, 
fragments of glass, flint, and granite, with other indigestible 
substances. 
Such most commonly constitute the nuclei of intestinal cal¬ 
culi. Nature, to guard against the injurious effects that may 
arise from the existence of pointed bodies in the intestines, 
encoats them with the phosphates, which are so abundant in 
the food, and which have not undergone digestion from the 
want of a sufficiency of lactic acid to effect their solution. 
But the case we would more especially advert to is 
Mr. Robinson’s, of poisoning pigs with common salt. It 
may, possibly, operate as a caution, since it is by no means 
uncommon for the brine-pan to be emptied into the pigs’- 
wash tub. 
Several instances of poisoning by this agent have fallen 
under our notice. When, some years since, the stomachs, 
with their contents, of two pigs were sent to us for ana- 
lysation, we could not find anything absolutely deleterious in 
them, but we detected the existence of common salt in large 
quantities; and although at that time we did not feel 
sufficiently confident to express our full conviction of its 
being the poisoning agent, we nevertheless stated our sus¬ 
picions that it was so, which were confirmed by subsequent 
intercourse and inquiry among the profession, and since then 
several similar instances have occurred. 
