RUPTURE OF THE GASTROCNEMIUS MUSCLE. 379 



Patient very lame. This morning I adopted my favourite remedy 

 for all long existing cases of lameness in the hock and legs, viz. 

 the actual cautery, deeply and extensively. 



30/A. — Inflammation diminishing from the effects of the cautery. 



Feb. V)th. — I had him led out ; he walks much better. The 

 patten shoe was removed, and a thick heel then applied. 



15/A. — Lameness going off rapidly. 



20//i. — The firing has had a very excellent effect : he can now 

 trot tolerably well. The firing produced a deep-seated inflamma- 

 tion and effusion, which united the ruptured parts together. 



March 1th. — Discharged fit for duty. I attribute the cure to 

 the effects of the cautery, as it very soon made the horse a fit and 

 proper subject for a species of military duty which is sometimes 

 particularly laborious. 



Case \\.—Nov. IQth, 1836.— A gentleman hunting with Lord 

 Segrave's hounds, on Saturday, the 26th ult., jumped his horse at a 

 ditch which he did not clear with the near hind leg. The horse made 

 a violent effort to extricate it, and after this pursued the chase with 

 unabated cheerfulness, and when the sport was over walked home, 

 a distance of eight miles, quite free from lameness. 



21th. — Slight lameness was perceptible. 



28/A. — I was requested to attend him, which I did, and found 

 him extremely lame, unable to sustain any weight on the near 

 hind leg, and barely touching the ground with his toe. Respira- 

 tion distressingly laborious — pulse 80. He refuses all food — 

 drinks excessively — the tongue is covered with fur— he is con- 

 tinually catching his leg up, and is in dreadful pain — no swelling 

 visible in any part of the limb. 



I examined his foot very minutely, and found no alteration or 

 injury there to account for the lameness. I bled him largely from 

 the femoral vein, and gave him aloes and hyd. submur., and 

 ordered gruel to be given plentifully. 



2^th. — Purging freely — pulse 108 — in agonizing pain — con- 

 tinually catching his leg up I cannot ascertain the precise seat 

 of lameness. I extracted a thorn from the leg, but that could have 

 nothing to do with the grievance. Tetanic symptoms are begin- 

 ning to be manifest. 



