ABDOMINAL TUMOUR AND RUPTURE OP TIIE COLON. G87 
and also firmer to the feel, but the dark-coloured parts were 
soft, and easily broken down by pressure. There were also 
several cysts, which were chiefly situated near the root of the 
tumour; some of these were larger than others. They all 
contained a glairy kind of fluid, which in some instances was 
of a deep-straw colour, and in others of a much darker colour. 
The outline of enlarged mesenteric lymphatic glands could be 
distinctly traced, the centre of each being dark in colour and 
easily broken down, while their margins presented the same 
aspect as the greater part of the tumour. The spaces between 
these bodies, the blood-vessels, and other organs, were filled 
up by effused material which had become partially converted 
into structure. Blood-vessels, lymphatics, and nerves, could 
without difficult}^ be traced from the root of the tumour 
throughout the greater part of its substance. The large 
arteries and veins were not visibly diseased, but the smaller 
vessels, with their capillaries, were in many places enlarged 
and engorged with blood. 
Such was the general character of the tumour. It must 
have been situated at the root of the anterior mesenteric 
artery, which, with its numerous branches, it surrounded, 
and, by these going from that vessel direct to the colon, it 
became firmly attached, as Mr. Hardy describes it to have 
been. We can thus very easily understand how 7 the tumour 
mechanically interfered with the function of that intestine, 
by arresting the passage of the ingesta. 
The symptoms described by Mr. Hardy correspond with 
this idea, and I further believe that the rupture of the colon 
with the consequent death of the horse was due to this 
mechanical interference, and not wholly to a weakened con¬ 
dition of the coats of the intestine from ulceration. 
I have thus briefly described the appearance of the tumour 
as far as the unaided eye enabled me to do. I have not 
investigated any part of it microscopically, although it would 
have been extremely interesting as w r ell as instructive to have 
done so; but, judging from the physical appearance of the 
w hole mass, and the history connected with the case, I am 
inclined to think it is scrofulous in its nature, and that it 
did not depend, as is sometimes the case, upon entozoa 
located in the mesenteric artery and its divisions. 
