STRAY LEAVES FROM MY CASE-BOOK. 
269 
he would die. However, the officer of the Animal’s Friend 
Society came up, and begged that his life might be ended, 
in spite of my conviction that his end was easdy and rapidly 
approaching. He was then killed, about one hour after I 
first saw him. During this time he had never moved, and 
his pulse at last was almost imperceptible at the jaw, but 
very quick. 
1 made a post-mortem examination at 9«30the next morning. 
He was rising five years old, and rather fat. The abdo- 
minal viscera were perfectly healthy. Upon excising the 
diaphragm, to get a view of the chest, a quantity of coagu- 
lated blood was seen, and upon a careful examination of the 
heart in situ , I saw that the pericardium was ruptured on the 
right side, and that a clot of blood was affixed to the base of 
the right auricle. The trachea was then divided about nine 
inches from its entrance into the thorax, and the heart and 
lungs carefully removed. On farther investigation, I found 
that the right auricle was separated from the ventricle hori- 
zontally along its base, and the process which rather over- 
hangs the ventricle was lifted up, as it were, completely. It 
was evidently a case of rupture of the muscular structure, 
and must have been the immediate result of the violent 
shock he sustained just as the auricle was full. The lesion 
was confined to the outer wall, and the length was about an 
inch. I presume that the blood which escaped ruptured the 
pericardium. 
This is the only instance of “ broken heart” in the horse 
that ever I saw, or heard of, and the novelty of the occur- 
rence has induced me to send this rough sketch of it, hoping 
that it will prove acceptable to the profession. 
I remain, & c. 
STRAY LEAVES FROM MY CASE-BOOK. 
By M.R.C.V.S. 
3. PUNCTURED WOUND. FRACTURED RIBS. PROTRUSION 
AND AMPUTATION OF OMENTUM. 
April 3d. — The injury has arisen from the animal becoming 
restive, and plunging against the shaft of a cart that was 
passing. A laceration of the common integument covering 
the 14th to the 18th rib exists, and from the wound a portion 
of omentum about the size of the palm of the hand protrudes. 
