CASES FROM PRACTICE. 
424 
occasionally. I apprehend hydrothorax, and therefore apply 
strong blisters to both sides, and prescribe half a diuretic to be 
given daily. 
23c?. — The breathing still continues to increase in frequency, 
and the mare does not regain her strength. 
31s?. — From the last date the case has continued steadily to 
progress towards a fatal termination. The balls were dis- 
continued on the 24th. The breathing has now become distress- 
ing, and the weakness is extreme. On the 24th I first perceived 
a foetid smell from the nostrils. The cough since that time has 
increased, and the respiration has gradually assumed the pe- 
culiar double heave of hydrothorax. The smell from the nostrils 
is now horribly offensive. She died on the night of the 31st. 
Post-mortem Examination . — I found the lungs greatty dis- 
eased. On the left side of the chest they were, as the saying 
is, “ completely gone.” The right lobe was very much dis- 
eased, and the lobes absolutely shrunk. The pleura was also 
much involved. Extensive adhesions had formed between the 
pleurae pulmonalis and costalis. The cavity of the chest was 
filled with water, with bands of coagulable lymph floating in 
and across it. 
Remarks . — I have inserted the above unsuccessful case, be- 
cause I think such cases do most good : this is recorded exactly 
as it occurred some five or six years ago. I know, as I read it, 
how dissimilar my practice would have been now, with a very 
weak pulse. I certainly should not bleed, and 1 think in this 
case I should have cut short all those diasters attendant upon 
bleeding by a judicious combination of the stimulant and seda- 
tive, as by ether and opium. The case shews us how fearfully 
the system is, in some cases, lowered by blood-letting, even to 
the extent of three quarts. This poor animal had no blood to 
lose. I would very gladly have infused more into her veins 
afterwards, when I found out my mistake. I feel quite con- 
vinced that disease of the chest in this instance, and hydro- 
thorax, supervened upon the loss of blood, and that it would not 
have occurred under a different treatment; for I believe that 
congestion may take place from absolute debility and want of 
power to carry on the circulation : and as to hydrothorax, as 
far as my experience goes, that disease only occurs after the 
system has been much lowered either by treatment or disease. 
