PLEUEISY. 583 



cult, or performed with double effort; the legs are extended and sepa- 

 rated, the auxiliary respiratory muscles are called into action; the 

 dilated nostrils, staring eyes, anxious countenance, and laborious heav- 

 ing, strikingly indicate the threatened suffocation. A mucous rattle is 

 heard in the windpipe, the extremities become cold, the pulse flutter- 

 ing, or scarcely to be felt, the horse stands tottering, and, life just 

 extinct, falls dead. 



" Should the result prove more fortunate, a marked but gradual 

 abatement of the symptoms in the most severe cases is perceived after 

 the fourth day. The abdominal spasm ceases, there is more freedom 

 in respiration, the pleuritic twitchings do not recur, the grunt is no 

 more heard, the pulse becomes distinct, soft, and less frequent, the 

 body regains its flexibility, the horse moves with more liberty, the 

 appetite returns, he lies down, and, gradually recovering, is generally 

 within three weeks to be considered well, though unfit for work." 



Post-mortem appearances. When an animal dies of 

 pleurisy, fluid is usually found in considerable quantities in 

 the chest. A large quantity of serum may be effused in a 

 day or two. Dupuy found as much as 40 Ibs. in a case of 

 50 hours' standing. Usually the pericardium is involved in' 

 the inflammation, and the lungs may be the seat of congestion 

 and even consolidation. M. St. Cyr is the most recent ob- 

 server on the subject of pleuritic lesions, and he furnishes us 

 with much information on the subject: 



" Pathological Anatomy. The rapidity with which the early changes 

 of inflammation occur in the pleura, is, according to our author, 

 truly surprising ; in the course of a few hours a very marked enlarge- 

 ment of the vascular network is observed. With reference to the in- 

 flammatory exudation and false membranes formed, Saint-Cyr alludes 

 to the different degree of development of the latter. Whatever may 

 be the form of the false membranes, they are soft, pulpy, easily crushed 

 and torn, completely amorphous, finely granular, or more or less im- 

 pregnated with different elements, such as cells, nuclei, &c., which can 

 only be discovered by the microscope. They adhere feebly to the pleura, 

 and may accumulate with prodigious rapidity, so as to cover in three 

 or four days almost the whole pleural surface on one or both sides. 



