74 
CRIMEAN RETROSPECTS. 
frog, and which I think can only be rationally explained by 
saying that the re-percussion is" communicated from before 
to behind, and that only a smart blow will produce it. In 
this case the os pedis had hot the slightest appearance of 
being injured, and yet it must have been the medium through 
which the jar was thrown upon the navicular bone. When 
the blow comes obliquely, the os pedis then, in the majority 
of cases, suffers. Mn Gloag informs me, that in the cavalry 
charge at .Balaclava, a horse was struck on the foot by a 
bullet which, carrying away a small portion of hoof, frac- 
tured the coffin-bone. Here we can imagine the bullet 
striking the hoof obliquely, thus causing as it were a diffusion 
of the concussive force, and as there was no other bone or 
bones to modify or diminish the shock, the result was a dis- 
solution of its continuity. 
The foregoing case of the pony was the last of our vete- 
rinary experiences in the Crimea, as all fit animals were 
embarked on the next day. 
HAEMOPTYSIS. 
On the afternoon of June 4th, I was told that a horse had 
fallen with his rider on the Kamiesch road close to my camp, 
and that blood was gushing from his nostrils. On my reach- 
ing the spot, I found that, with the assistance of some 
artillerymen, the horse had been got up, and now stood with 
his head close to the ground ; a small stream of blood trick- 
ling from each nostril. The breathing was very hurried and 
deep ; the skin of the body and limbs cold and bedewed with 
a clammy sweat. The symptoms altogether betokened acute 
congestion of the lungs, and plainly indicated that unless some- 
thing was soon done, the animal would speedily die. 
From his rider, Captain G., of the artillery of the Imperial 
Guard, I obtained the following history: The horse was of the 
southern breed — French — and had only been in the Crimea a 
short time, he had not been accustomed to much work, and was 
therefore in gross condition. That forenoon he had taken 
him from the camp close to Traktir bridge to Kamiesch ; that 
a heavy shower overtook them on their return, and that he had 
pushed the horse forward as much as he could until all at 
once he began to stagger, swayed to one side of the road, and 
then fell, blood freely flowing from his nostrils. 
I had him conveyed as gently as possible to a shed where a 
loose box was partitioned off for him. When put in he 
appeared comatose, perfectly insensible to everything around 
him, boring forward with his head against the wall, although 
not attempting to lie down. 
