INFLAMMATION OF THE SPLEEN IN A MARE. 
329 
the blisters had not risen to any extent ; the pulse was from 90 to 
100 ; she was getting weaker; in short, she was evidently worse, 
and I now had little hope of her. I remained in the house, 
occasionally visiting her : she continued pawing nearly the whole 
time, and the pulse remained the same. We did little to her 
besides keeping her warm and comfortable, and occasionally 
drenching; her with gruel, or offering her chilled water. 
At 2 o’clock in the morning we went to see her, and found her 
dead. I am inclined to think that when she fell she had got into 
that position which had caused her death sooner than it would 
have otherwise occurred. She had been standing close to the 
manger where she dropped down, and her head was pressed 
under the manger, and under a cross piece that supported the 
manger; and I think she probably was suffocated. We had 
seen her a few minutes before. 
Examination . — A few hours afterwards we examined her. 
There was no inflammation in any part of the bowels. The mu- 
cous coat of the small intestines was coated with bile, but con- 
tained no fseces ; the larger ones had a little liquid faeces in 
them, and all the intestines were distended with flatus. The 
bladder, liver, kidneys, and every viscus in the abdomen, were 
perfectly sound, with the exception of the spleen. The spleen 
was double its wonted size, gorged with blood, black as jet. 
Its natural tough texture quite broken down, and it was soft, and, 
in a manner, approaching to gangrene. The lungs and costal 
pleurae were very slightly inflamed. 
Observations .—^ This is a case that points out to most of us 
how little we know of the symptoms of inflammation of the 
spleen, and how T liable we may be to attribute them to other com- 
plaints : had I, however, known that the spleen had been dis- 
eased, my treatment would scarcely have been different. 
I acknowledge that in this case I was mistaken. I took it, 
from its commencement, to be obstruction of the bowels. When 
I first saw her, I found dung in the rectum and other intes- 
tines, very hard, and covered with slime ; and throughout the 
whole time she never dunged or had raked from her so much as 
would go into a half-peck, although she had taken twelve 
drachms of Barb, aloes, and about one ounce of tartar emetic. 
The bowels, it is true, had very little in them to be expelled 
but then it is singular that purging did not come on, and that 
there should not have been some inflammation produced in them 
from the effect of the aloes. 
The principal symptoms in this case may be summed up as 
follow : — At its commencement, those of common colic ; the 
breathing, until within about six hours of death, was perfectly 
