ON SPASM OF THE DIAPHRAGM. 
23 
Observations . — In my note book I find this case is headed as 
“ Inflammation of the Heart and Lungs, and Distention of the 
Bowels;” but now I have not the least doubt that it was a case 
of spasm of the diaphragm, and what I then took for violent 
beating of the heart was spasm of the diaphragm From the 
commencement of the disease to within half an hour of her death 
there was not the least uneasiness, nor did she so much as lift 
up her legs expressive of pain. Her respiration was but little 
increased in frequency. 
General Observations . — From the foregoing cases and the one 
that I sent you, and which is inserted in the last volume of The 
Veterinarian, page 518, and from some others, I am led to 
believe that there is some connexion between the spasm and the 
heart’s action; for in these cases, although they did not beat 
exactly at the same time, yet they beat regularly after each 
other. 
Mr. Castley says that the action of the heart was felt but very 
indistinctly, and not at all at the jaw; but that, after bleeding, 
both the spasm and the pulse increased in frequency. 
Mr. Brown, see Veterinarian, vol. vi, page 18, does not 
notice whether the spasm and the pulse were together or other- 
wise. 
In The Veterinarian, vol. vi, page 50, is a case by M. 
Leverat, of Lausanne, of “ Irregularity in the Beating of the 
Heart;” but which, I think, is a clear case of spasm of the dia- 
phragm. Here he observes that the pulsations ( query , spasm of 
the diaphragm) of the heart and the glosso-facial artery was 50 
in a minute and synchronous ; and further on he observes, that 
as the spasms diminished in number, so did the pulse at the 
face. 
In Mr. Sinclair’s case, see Veterinarian, vol. viii, page 83, 
he says the spasm and the pulse were not synchronous. 
Mr. Tombs, of Pershore, has related three interesting cases, 
see Veterinarian, vol. viii, page 494, and vol. xii, page 680, 
but does not notice this point. 
In The Veterinarian, vol. ix, page 513, Mr. Gutteridge, 
then of Caermarthen, afterwards, I fancy, of Ross, states a case, 
but he does not notice this circumstance ; yet in one place he 
states that she was worse, and that the pulse had risen to 100 and 
the beating was more violent. Mr. Gutteridge’s case is badly re- 
ported, and the language singularly resembles that which may 
be found in a case of Mr. Brown’s, of Melton xMowbray, in the 
sixth volume of The Veterinarian, page 18. 
In The Veterinarian, vol. xiv, page 368, there is a case, 
by M. Pastey, “ of Abnormal Palpitation of the Heart,” but 
