183 



SPASM OP THE DIAPHRAGM. 



If I mistake not, our attention was first called to this 

 subject by the celebrated Nimrod, the late Mr. Apperley. 

 In his admirable ' Letters on Condition/ so long ago as the 

 year 1825, he remarks, while discoursing of treatment after a 

 hard and long run, — " When a horse is very much exhausted 

 after a long race with hounds, a noise will sometimes be 

 heard to proceed from his inside, which is often erroneously 

 supposed to be the beating of his heart, whereas it proceeds 

 from the excessive motion of the abdominal muscles.^' This 

 interpretation of the " noise^' was shortly afterwards dis- 

 puted by Mr. Smith, of Woodhouse, who ascribed it to the 

 heart. In a subsequent letter, however, Mr. Apperley, 

 having in the interval met with another case, argues that 

 the noise, from the situation in which it is heard, cannot 

 possibly proceed from the heart, unless, indeed, as he adds, 

 "the heart lay where it should not lie;" but — repeating 

 his former opinion — is caused by " a convulsive action of 

 the abdominal muscles." 



In 1831, Mr. Castley, with his mind directed to the 

 subject by the foregoing observations of Mr. Apperley, sent 

 a paper to The Veterinarian, wherein, although he had 

 never seen but one "well-marked instance of it," he appears 

 to have hit upon the true explication of the phenomenon; 

 which is, that the "noise in the inside" is owing to 

 "spasmodic affection of the diaphragm." In Mr. Castley's 

 case, the prominent symptom was " a convulsive motion or 

 jerking of the whole body, accompanied by a dull thumping 

 noise, audible at several yards distance, and evidently 

 proceeding from his inside. The beats appeared to be about 

 forty a minute. On placing my hand over the heart, the 

 action of that organ could be felt but very indistinctly : the 

 beating evidently came from behind the heart, and was 

 plainly to be felt in the direction of the diaphragm. Again, 

 placing my hand upon the abdominal muscles, the jerks 

 appeared to come from before backwards. There was no 

 pulsation to be felt at the submaxillary artery." 



