126 
A CASE OF FRACTURE OF THE SIXTH COSTA, AND 
PROTRUSION OF A PORTION OF THE RIGHT 
LOBE OF THE LUNGS. 
By Mr. Joseph Carlisle, F.S., Wigton. 
On the 2d of July, 1841, a pony, the property of Mr. Vasty, 
of Jenkin Cross, was sent to my establishment with a severe 
wound on the right side, inflicted by the horn of a bullock. On 
examination, I found the sixth rib fractured, and the fractured 
part projecting into the cavity of the thorax, and a portion of the 
posterior and inferior ala of the right lobe of the lungs protrud- 
ing through the opening. 
Treatment. — I proceeded to detach the fractured portion of 
bone, which was about two inches in length, and of the thickness 
of a crow-quill ; in fact, it was the ridge of the costa. I next 
returned the protruding portions of the lungs, and brought the 
edges of the wound partly together, and retained them by the 
metallic suture. The hair was shaved off, and about eight inches 
of the transparent plaister applied, and above this a brown linen 
roller laced at the ends. I abstracted blood until I produced syn- 
cope, and administered an aloetic oleaginous draught. The diet 
was confined to thin bran mashes, with a liberal allowance of tepid 
water. He was then placed in a loose box, and had his legs ban- 
daged. Pulse 86, and respiration laborious at intervals. 
3d. — Pulse 96; respiration intermitting; mucous membrane 
pale, vessels injected ; faeces semifluid, but scanty. On each 
side of the roller much tumefaction ; occasional fits of rigor, and 
no inclination to feed. I ordered hot fomentations to the parts, 
and administered with great care, tinct. hyoscyami, tinct. lobel. 
inflat, aa Jj, tinct. digitalis, tinct. scillse aa 3ij, perfect quietude 
being observed. 
Mh . — Pulse 90 ; respiration more tranquil and regular ; bowels 
freely acted upon. He refuses mashes, but picks a little hay ; the 
swelling stationary. 
Rub the legs and bandage again ; foment and administer spt. 
nit. ether. §j, infus. lini sylvestris Oj. 
5th. — Pulse 75. The swelling becoming dropsical ; the appe- 
tite improving ; faeces semi-fluid ; occasional shivering, particu- 
