MARASMUS IN A MARE. 
389 
bright, but her coat had lost its glossiness, and the skin was 
adherent to the ribs ; in fact, the case seemed to be one of 
“a wasting away of the flesh, without fever or any apparent 
disease.” I offered her some oats, of which she ate perh&ps 
a pint, with some appetite, but she would eat no more. Some 
grass was now offered her, then hay, but she would not par¬ 
take of either. 
August 21st.-—I led her into a field, to a nice piece of 
grass ; she ate of it for fifteen minutes with a good appetite, 
after which nothing would tempt her to eat any more. 
Thrice in the day she would eat about the same quantit}^ 
Reflecting that I was in doubt as to whether the disease 
was caused by indigestion, arising from the want of the 
natural secretions to be mixed with the food, both going to 
and while in the stomach, or that some impediment existed, 
perhaps a tumour, occupying a portion of the stomach, and 
preventing a free passage of the ingesta into the intestines, 
and acting upon the first supposition, vegetable tonics with 
alteratives were given for four days without apparent benefit. 
I then gave scruple doses of calomel, morning and evening, 
and the third day after a decided improvement was manifest. 
Double the quantity of food was eaten by her, and she was 
more lively, prancing about like a colt, although this was a 
ludicrous sight to behold. This change continued for two 
weeks, when her appetite again forsook her. Considering 
the case to be hopeless, she was destroyed. 
Autopsy .—After removing the walls of the thorax and 
abdomen, the general appearance of the viscera was pale and 
smaller than natural. On taking out the right lung, it was 
found to be adherent at its anterior part to the pleura costalis, 
probably the effect of a former attack of pleurisy. The 
heart and liver appeared healthy ; the stomach was also 
healthy, excepting that it was smaller than usual, but the 
small intestine, nineteen inches from the pyloric orifice, was 
abruptly contracted, the contraction continuing for five feet, 
when it as abruptly resumed its natural size. On laying 
open the contracted portion, the walls were thickened to 
nearly one fourth of an inch, leaving the canal so small as 
hardly to admit the little finger; the kidneys appeared 
healthy ; the brain I did not examine, as there was no ap¬ 
pearance during life of any abnormal action arising from 
interference with the functions of this organ. 
