RUPTURE OF THE SPLEEN. 695 
was not resorted to, and that early, and it should be carried 
on till syncope is produced. 
The post-mortem examinations disclose the awfully sudden 
character of the disease. The muscles of the tumefied parts 
are found gorged with blood, apparently from rupture of the 
blood-vessels, and the lungs are invariably congested ; but 
the most striking object is the heart, which is greatly inflamed. 
CASE OP RUPTURE OP THE SPLEEN. 
By J. W. Maw, Thornton Pickering. 
On the 12th of September, I was called to attend a cart- 
filly, three years old, the property of Mr. Robert Topham, of 
Scampston Melton. I found my patient to be suffering from 
an attack of strangles in its severest form. Her head was 
enormously swollen, and several abscesses had already formed. 
Three of these I was enabled to open at once ; and after apply- 
ing the usual dressings, I left her, but had not been gone more 
than half an hour when I was recalled ; the messenger 
telling me that a sudden change had taken place in the 
symptoms. She was now very restless, and in a profuse cold 
sweat; the countenance was anxious, pulse 100; breathing 
laboured, visible mucous membranes pale, and extre- 
mities cold. She was frequently sighing, and showed a great 
determination to place her head upon her back, about op- 
posite to the sixth or seventh dorsal spine. I gave no 
hope of her recovery, and in three hours she died. 
Post-mortem examination . A large quantity of coagulated 
blood was present in the abdomen ; but, at first sight, the 
viscera had a healthy appearance. On turning the intestines 
aside, so as to expose the spleen, this organ was found to 
be both enormously enlarged and also ruptured. It weighed 
1 st. 4 lb. Its structure was evidently softened and other- 
wise altered. It appeared to be composed of a compacted 
mass of friable blood. 
I afterwards learned that the animal had been put under 
the influence of iodine, but that she had refused her food 
only three days previous to her death. 
