RUPTURE OF THE DIAPHRAGM. 191 



that the mare had undergone dreadful fatigue, it was set 

 down as a case of exhaustion, or over-marking, as sportsmen 

 term it/^ In half an hour she died. There was a rent in 

 the diaphragm, extending from the ensiform cartilage to the 

 perforation through its tendinous portion for the vena cava. 

 The lungs and other viscera were sound. Neither stomach 

 nor intestines were found loaded with food. Another prac- 

 titioner of the town related a similar case to Mr. Hales. 



Mr. Cartwright mentions an analogous instance. — 

 A coach-horse, twelve years old, dropped down dead, going 

 at the rate of ten miles an hour. "The rupture (in the 

 diaphragm) was so large that a man^s head could easily 

 pass through it, and was near the ensiform cartilage, 

 extending as much on one side as on the other. It was the 

 muscular part, and some part of the muscle seemed to be torn 

 from the tendinous portion. It was evidently a recent 

 affair, as there was not the least disease about it.^^ 



Pursuing our inquiries on this interesting and compara- 

 tively novel subject, we come to a case narrated by Mr. Price, 

 V.S., Rochester: 



It was "a noble-chested cart-horse, aged, very free in his 

 work, and the day never too long for him." He had con- 

 tinued working with a severe cough for a fortnight, his 

 appetite being good; but at length was taken " seriously ill." 

 A smith was then sent for, who took away five quarts of 

 blood ; and, next day, the same quantity. On the third day 

 Mr. Price was called in, who "found respiration extremely 

 laborious, and the animal showing great uneasiness by 

 incessantly moving about; pulse 50, and hard." Next 

 morning the pulse was 90, and soft ; and the respiration 

 still more difficult, which, observes Mr. Price, "I should have 

 thought impossible, had I not seen it; the animal being 

 considerably tucked up in the flanks, and showing alto- 

 gether great distress." Mr. Price bled : the blood was "very 

 dark, and without any separation of its constituent parts." 

 The horse died on the seventh day. The diaphragm was 

 found "ruptured on the near side, as large as a crown-piece: 

 its anterior surface presented one mass of inflammation, and 



