66 
ON SPASM OF THE DIAPHRAGM. 
By Mr . J. Beeson, F.-S 1 ., Amersham. 
In the June number of the last year, page 368, I read a case of 
abnormal palpitation of the heart, by M. Pastey Delivrande, oc- 
curring to a horse that, a few days previously, had recovered from 
an attack of colic. This case was regarded by that gentleman 
as a very extraordinary one ; but the true nature of it, in my 
opinion, he does not seem to have understood. 
Having met with some very similar cases, I venture to offer a 
few remarks on his, which I can only presume to do from a con- 
viction that, whether I am right or wrong, it will be regarded as 
an effort to contribute to our general interests by the statement of 
some facts which have a certain relation to and may better ex- 
plain M. Pastey’s case. 
The disease so well described by that gentleman was, in my 
opinion, a well-defined case of spasm of the diaphragm. A pal- 
pitation of the heart would, under all circumstances, be most dis- 
tinctly felt in its immediate situation, and not at the flank. The 
beatings of the left flank are described as being very violent, while 
the action of the heart could only be felt as an echo of those 
beatings ; or, as he describes it, not having behind the elbow 
where the beatings of the heart are usually explored, anv thing 
but a somewhat more direct echo of the movement that was im- 
pressed on every part of the frame. The pulse was isochronous 
with the beatings of the flank. 
It is a remarkable fact, that in every case of spasm of the dia- 
phragm that has come under my observation, the pulsations of 
the heart and the spasmodic beatings have been exactly isochron- 
ous. 
The spasmodic contractions always precede the heart’s pulsa- 
tion at about the same rate as the pulsation of the heart precedes 
that of an extreme artery, which may be distinctly felt by placing 
the left hand at the heart, and the right at the ends of the ribs. 
This affection may exist partially or generally; and I have seen 
several cases in which the whole of the diaphragm has been im- 
plicated, but more violent on one side than another. 
I have never seen a case that did not recover, except in one 
instance, in w T hich this affection of the diaphragm was symptom- 
atic. The patient died of introsusception of the bowels. In this 
case the spasmodic beatings commenced about six hours before 
the animal died. 
