DIAPHRAGMATIC HERNIA. 409 



six minutes, and very sharp ; in fact, latterly, the pain was so 

 excessive as to drive liim to a state verging on delirium. It 

 would, amid other symptoms of restlessness, bore his head with 

 dilated pupils forward, like a staggered horse. Post mortem — 

 was found a rent in the diaphragm, extending from the 

 spine to its middle. The margins of the rupture did not 

 indicate recent laceration. The stomach, which was quite full, 

 had become ruptured, and with it part of the duodenum, 

 was within the chest. It is my opinion that the slip-up 

 and fall, occasioned rupture of the diaphragm, and that at 

 some subsequent — perhaps remote — period, the hernia took 

 place. The case is published in ' The Veterinarian,^ vol. 

 xxvi. p. 49. 



The Hernial Parts consist commonly of intestine ; and 

 of the small, in consequence of their loose attachment, more 

 frequently than the large. In Mr. Cartwright^s case the 

 caecum had entered the chest ; and in another, a portion of 

 mesentery was found there. In chronic cases, the hernial 

 bowels have been known to contract adhesions to the mem- 

 branes in the chest. 



Strangulation happens occasionally in diaphragmatic as 

 in other hernise. It may speedily follow the incarceration, or 

 it may supervene after many weeks or even months, in conse- 

 quence of some change having taken place in the volume or 

 position of the viscera. Violent inflammation results from 

 constriction, and mortification follows. 



Both rupture and Hernia of the Diaphragm may 

 exist, and yet the horse appear unaffected by any disease — 

 nay, in perfect health. Various circumstances tend to this 

 result, the chief being, the portion of the diaphragm that is 

 ruptured, the extent and direction of the rupture, the viscera 

 received into it, their state of constriction. Laceration of the 

 superior or fleshy part of the diaphragm, where the crura are 

 attached, is suddenly fatal ; but in the inferior or tendinous 

 part, considerable rent may exist without materially disturbing 

 the respiratory functions. The late Professor Sewell has 

 satisfactorily demonstrated these facts ; Mr. Cartwright's 



