REPORTS OF CASES. 
669 
called about 26 hours later and gave exercise and injections, 
with no result. I then gave aloes gum, 3 i ; calumet, 3 i : 
ginger, 3 i. I then told the owner (Mr. J. I .Wilkinson) 
that she had an obstruction in the form of a hair-ball at the 
entrance of the rectum or posterior extremity of the colon, and 
based my diagnosis on a case I had once before that lived on 
like this for nine days. On the phone next morning they re¬ 
ported the mare better; bowels had begun to move, and 
there was no pain. I called as soon as possible to see the result 
of my treatment, and to my surprise had only had one very 
small discharge, which was as thin as could be. I kept her 
very quiet, gave hardly any water, fed on dry oats and hay, 
and left word to be rung up in a short time, when they said 
nothing more had passed. However, at night she had had an¬ 
other similar discharge, and through the night only one, and 
the bowels continued to move like this for three days (about 
two through the day and one through the night). This kept 
up for four days, when it stopped, and she was again just the 
same as when first taken. Pain about every r half hour for two 
or three minutes, then she would eat a little grass, etc. I still 
held out that a hair-ball was obstructing the gut, but could not 
understand how it could move for a short time (or four days) 
and then obstruct again, or if, like the one I saw before this, 
how could anything trickle around it. However, Mr. Wilkin¬ 
son said he thought something of the kind must be the case, 
and as I held out no hope for her, decided to let her take her 
chances. I begged to be kept posted about her symptoms, etc., 
and on the sixteenth day, or September 15th, I dropped in to see 
how she was doing, not hearing anything more. I found 
another veterinary surgeon had been called to give an opinion,, 
and diagnosed typhoid. However, while there she died, and a 
harder death I never saw. I think she must have taken at least 
fifteen minutes, and her struggles and countenance were distress¬ 
ing. This being on Sunday, and having on my Sunday best, I 
lost no time getting sufficient necessaries for the afternoon. The 
ball which I send you was lodged, as I said before, at the poste¬ 
rior extremity of the colon, and the largest groove or fissure was 
presented at the rectum, which allowed the faeces, when very 
soft, to trickle into the rectum. I felt pleased with the post¬ 
mortem. 
[Note. —The hair-ball (segagropilus) received measures 
twenty inches in circumference and weighed when removed 
from the animal three pounds and ten ounces.— Editor.] 
