498 
W. R. HOWE. 
morning at 6 o’clock the mare was found dead. Upon post mor¬ 
tem examination found the large colon ruptured near the pelvic 
flexure; laying right in the breach found two calculous balls em¬ 
bedded together; further on toward the gastra-hepatic curvature 
found the third and last one. The weight of the largest ball was 
five pounds, greatest circumference twenty inches; the smaller 
ones weighed respectively three and one-half and three pounds. 
The stomach, small intestines, coecum and double colon were com¬ 
pletely packed with food, (and ingesta) the single colon merely 
containing some fluid. The mucous surface covering the whole 
extent of the intestinal tract was much inflamed. No appreciable 
lesions of the other organs were observed, so far as a superficial 
examination revealed. Upon a review of the case I am inclined 
to think that the rupture in the bowels occurred during the night 
of the 23th, or very early next morning, the bowel giving away 
in consequence of the great pressure brought on it by the im¬ 
mense accummulation of food and ingesta, the mare speedily 
dying of collapse. In support of this view I will add that ap¬ 
pearances about the ruptured portions of the bowel indicated it 
to be of recent origin. In regard to the therepeutical action of 
the eserine and pilocarpin, from the rapidity in which it excited 
the peristaltic action of the intestines, after the continued failure 
of other medicines, I feel convinced that it might often be ad¬ 
vantageously employed as a remedial agent in veterinary practice. 
ESERINE. 
A Paper read before the Ohio State Veterinary Medical Association by 
W. R. Howe, V.S. 
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : 
Lately we have heard and read a great deal about the use and 
usefulness of the drug eserine. 
Eserine, or physostigmine, is the alkaloid of the seed or bean 
of Physostigma venenosum, or calabar bean. The bean is kidney 
shaped, with a furrow running longitudinally along its convex 
margin, about an inch in length and three-fourths inch wide, very 
