PERFORATION OF THE COLON. 
447 
sion that such an abnormity, as was found to exist, was the 
impediment. And if the idea accidentally had presented 
itself that such might have been the case, it would even then 
have been found difficult, in so young an animal, with its 
small, elongated head, to have determined whether an opera¬ 
tion ought to be attempted or not. In my opinion it would 
have been impracticable. 
The tumour was as large as a pigeon’s egg, and from its 
connexion to the epiglottis, it had so fixed that organ as to 
prevent its closing the glottis when either fluids or solids 
were passing from the mouth to the pharynx. And it is 
very probable, that from this cause the milk, when the little 
animal was sucking, found its way into the trachea, instead 
of proceeding along its proper channel, and this, as suggested 
by Mr. Scruby, became the cause of the death of the foal. 
PERFORATION OF THE COLON. 
By A. J. Owles, Y.S. Carabineers, Muttra. 
Having had two fatal cases of perforation of the colon 
lately, one from the effects of chronic, or subacute inflamma¬ 
tion of the mucous coat of the large intestines, and the other 
after frequent attacks of “ gripes,” during the last four months, 
mysterious from their frequency and absence of any apparent 
cause, I have written a short account of them for the benefit 
of the profession. Moreover, cases of this nature are not easy 
to diagnose, and if such were more frequent, and presented 
symptoms equally obscure and unsatisfactory as I found in 
the first of the two cases I am about to describe, I think the 
readers of the Veterinarian would not blame me for giving a 
short account of them. I see that Mr. Dyer, in the January 
number of the Veterinarian , has described a case of “ Spasmo¬ 
dic Colic with Rupture of the Colon and as the history of 
this case corresponds closely with the two I have had, and in 
which turpentine, by the bye, was not given, I fancy such 
cases may be more common than some of us imagine. 
Unfortunately my first, and most interesting case, to me— 
not so to the owner of the horse, who did not appear to see it 
in the same light—occurred while we were marching, and I 
did not take any notes. But the general symptoms at first 
were similar to those in a case of obstruction of the bowels, 
viz., slow and continued uneasiness; dejected countenance; 
lying down and getting up; pulse slightly accelerated and a 
