EMBOLISM OF ILIAC ARTERIES. 
183 
The mare evinced no disposition to get on her legs, never- 
theless she was able to do so ; and when she was put into a 
stable she seized the rack and manger with her teeth, and 
her whole frame was agitated with violent tremors. The 
pain and lameness of the hind legs were excessive. The 
animal was continually moving from one hind leg to the 
other, and occasionally she raised the off hind foot from the 
ground and retained it in that position for some time. Now 
and then the hind quarters dropped suddenly, as though the 
hind legs had lost for the moment the power of supporting 
the body ; nevertheless, the mare invariably recovered herself, 
never falling to the ground. There were also present crouch- 
ing of the quarters, and a semiflexed condition of the joints of 
the posterior extremities, a state most conspicuous in the off 
limb. The longissimus dorsi, glutei maximus and externus, 
and the oblique muscles of the abdomen, with some of the 
posterior intercostals, were in a state of spastic rigidity ; the 
abductor and adductor muscles, and also the muscles of the 
anterior and posterior crural regions, were evidently relaxed ; 
the gastrocnemii being apparently elongated, thus allowing 
the point of the os calcis to recede a great distance from the 
tibia. The mare’s legs were cold, and displayed a remark- 
ably fine or clean appearance. 
I gave the mare an anodyne draught, which was followed 
by a dose of physic. 
Three hours subsequent to my first seeing the mare, 
namely, at 5 o’clock p.m., I again visited her with my father. 
At that time the symptoms which I have related, with the 
exception of the distension of the abdomen, which had sub- 
sided an hour after the administration of the draught, .were 
still present, though they had lessened somewhat in inten- 
sity. The patient was now removed to a stable about 400 
yards distant. At the commencement she experienced diffi- 
culty in progression, and as she proceeded, her back became 
arched, and her quarters more drooping ; her hind feet dragged 
on the ground, and occasionally she moved, only supporting her- 
self upon the front of the hind fetlocks. She perspired profusely, 
and her breathing was accelerated and embarrassed. Having 
gone through two thirds of the distance, and being in extreme 
distress, she fell from want of power in her hind parts. After 
a short interval, the urgency of the symptoms having some- 
what abated, she got up and with great difficulty walked to 
the stable ; but when she arrived at the door she again fell. 
Here she lay several hours in extreme agony. My father now 
intimated that the symptoms were indicative of embolism, or 
obstruction of the arteries of the posterior extremities, he 
