18 PLEURO-PNEUMONY AND RUPTURED STOMACH. 
and continuing to exhibit for five or six days, and in a very 
marked manner, the characters of pleurisy. The legs, ears, and 
body were perfectly warm and natural ; but the respiration was 
too laboured, and assumed more the action of a broken- winded 
horse, but in a quicker degree. His pulse also continued too quick, 
and was always very perceptible at the jaw. 
After the first day or two, I discovered that the pulsatory 
action of the heart was very distinctly felt at the opposite side of 
the chest, and this continued so most of the time, but, certainly, 
it was not so distinct in the last week as during the previous time. 
There was also a quivering of the muscles about the breast and 
the sides of the chest, low down. I repeatedly applied my ears to 
the chest, as, from the symptoms, I fancied there was water in 
it, and I could hear a slight gurgling towards the posterior infe- 
rior parts of the cavities, but mostly on the off side. Mr. Lucas 
was of my opinion as to this. It certainly was not very audible, 
and, if great care was not exercised, the sound of the intestines, 
which could be distinctly heard at times, might be mistaken for 
it. In order, certainly, to ascertain the real state of the case, it 
is quite necessary that it should be in the dead of night, or 
when there is not the least noise. 
Whether there was a greater quantity of fluid in the chest 
during the first eight or ten days, l cannot determine; but I am 
inclined to think that there was, as the respiration was more la- 
boured. About the middle of the time of his illness he was appa- 
rently uneasy, as he lay down once or twice at his length, and 
seemed in pain ; but this passed off, and, with this exception, he 
stood all the time. 
A question naturally arises, From what cause, and when, was 
the stomach ruptured ? That it was ruptured from a quantity of 
gas derived from the vetches or food he had eaten cannot be 
doubted. Most likely it was from the vetches, as it could not be 
from the large quantity of food in substance that he had eaten. 
Was it ruptured after death ? I think not, as there was not suf- 
ficient disease anywhere else to account for the symptoms during 
life. 
Mr. Percivall, in his u Hippopathology,” has been the first Eng- 
lish author that has drawn our attention to the occasional occur- 
rence of vomition in this disease ; not that he considers it as a 
pathognomonic sign, though he justly considers it, in company 
with others, as one throwing much light upon the nature of the 
case. From the histories on record it certainly would appear that it 
is not always present ; and Mr. Pritchard, of Wolverhampton, has 
stated (see Veterinary Medical Proceedings, session 1840-41, 
page 348) that he never yet has met with it in any case. Mr. 
