REPORTS OF CASES. 
493 
out of the stall ; she walked stiff and drawn up ; seemed to have 
pain in the lumbar region ; yet examination revealed nothing. 
She had not defecated during the night. I therefore had my 
man to give her a rectal injection of warm water, and gave about 
the same internal treatment as I had the day before, and again 
left to make my calls. On returning the man told me in giv¬ 
ing her the injection it seemed to pain her ; and that when she 
passed fseces she backed up to the wall. I thought I should 
now find out what the trouble was with her. Examination per 
rectum revealed a rupture of the mucous membrane about three 
inches in length, about the middle of rectum, on the right side, 
with a clot of blood, which I removed ; washed out the cavity 
with solution of carbolic acid, etc. The thought struck me at 
once, how could this have been done without there being any 
haemorrhage ? The boy seemed to know nothing about it. 
When he returned in a few days to find out the condition of the 
patient, I took him to task about it, when he admitted that a 
shaft had penetrated her rectum, and had not caused an external 
injury that w r as visible. He also admitted that there was some 
haemorrhage that evening and the next morning, but that he had 
cleansed the parts, etc. The reason for not revealing it was 
fear of punishment from his father. In running a race with 
another boy having a horse hitched to a sulky of the old-fash¬ 
ioned high kind the shaft penetrated the rectum. 
I gave her laxatives, anodynes, and washed out the wound 
well with antiseptic solution, so that in three weeks time I sent 
her home cured. 
I write this not for what the case was, but how a wrong diag¬ 
nosis could be made by not having a history of the case, and 
by my not making a rectal examination of it at my first obser¬ 
vation. I certainly was taught a lesson to always make an ex¬ 
amination of these parts when all other signs failed, and hope 
my experience will be a benefit to some of the young members 
of the profession. 
A CASE OF SUBNORMAL TEMPERATURE.* 
By W. H. Harbaugh, V.S., Richmond, Va. 
Oct. 4th, 10 p. m., a chestnut gelding was brought to my 
hospital with symptoms of aggravated heaves. Owner had no¬ 
ticed the abnormal breathing and cough for the past three weeks, 
but never saw the horse in such an alarming condition as he 
♦Read before the Virginia State Veterinary Medical Association, June 24, 1896. 
