RUPTURE OF THE STOMACH. 
219 
apprised the owner. Left full doses of morphia, to be given 
hypodermically every hour, and would return in the evening. 
At that time I found every symptom of rupture argumented, 
so positive that I wanted to destroy the animal as an act of 
mercy. 
The owner would not listen to this, as she was the family 
pet. Shfe died during the night; I made a post-mortem in 
the morning, and found the stomach ruptured, in the manner 
that Dr. Johnson speaks of, viz: That the peritoneal coat was 
torn about one and one-half inches at each end of the orifice 
more than that of the mucous coat, and that the torn edges 
through the centre of the aperture were more gangrenous 
than at the ends, while the torn edges of the inner coat pre¬ 
sented the same appearance all through. The lesions were 
situated about one-third the distance from the greater curva¬ 
ture and at right angles with the posterior gastric arteries 
through the villous portion. This animal had shown indica¬ 
tions of pain four days prior to her last sickness, and I have 
no doubt but that the indurated condition through the centre 
of the external aperture were due to preexisting rupture. I 
can only account for the preexisting rupture of the external 
coat, and that it is of greater extent than that of the mucous 
coat in this way: that the external coat is a serous membrane 
and practically inelastic, while that of the internal is a mu¬ 
cous membrane and quite elastic, and would, therefore, allow 
of greater dilation. On examining the stomach of the horse 
we find this : that the mucous coat is soft and velvety, and 
lays in small folds or rugas. When we consider the struc¬ 
ture, and the distention that this organ can assume, one can 
easily understand how an inordinate distension could rup¬ 
ture the external coat, before allowing any such lesion to 
occur in the internal coat. When the stomach is fully dilated 
normally, the mucous membrane is not strained in the least, 
chymification is uninterrupted ; whereas, on the other hand, 
were the mucous membrane so dilated as to be tense, it would 
interfere with the secretion of the glands, and chymification 
would cease. Nature has been most beneficent in this, in al¬ 
lowing the animal to eat to the greatest desire, without ma¬ 
terially interfering with digestion. 
