A CASE OF PUERPERAL FEVER. 
335 
my finger, and found that the rumen was completely filled. I 
then considered that the difficulty of breathing was occasioned 
by the distended rumen preventing the proper action of the dia- 
phragm. I therefore made an incision through the muscles of 
the flank, four inches in length, and evacuated the contents of 
the paunch. The pulse was then 130, and weak. She died at 
the close of the operation, which was at half past ten a.m., the 
whole duration of the disease being only eleven hours and a half. 
Having other professional engagements, I went away, request- 
ing them to get some one to take the skin off. When I returned, 
after the lapse of about four hours, they had cut off the head, 
and hung it up by the mouth. It is of importance to mark the 
position the head was in ; for, after examining the pelvic, abdo- 
minal, and thoracic viscera, the appearance of which I will men- 
tion more particularly hereafter, I took down the head from where 
it was hanging, and on turning it round, a quantity of serum (to 
the amount of at least an ounce) escaped from the cavity of the 
cranium, through the foramen magnum of the occipital bone, 
and from the position the head was hanging in, more might have 
escaped unperceived. On laying open the abdomen, the peri- 
toneum seemed perfectly free from disease, as also that portion 
of it covering the uterus. There was a quantity of viscid gelatin- 
ous matter in the body and cornu of that organ. There was 
nothing abnormal in the urinary organs. The stomachs and in- 
testines bore no marks of inflammatory action, with the exception 
of the abomasum, which was highly inflamed. There was a 
quantity of hard impacted food in the third stomach, and about 
eight ounces of bile in the gall-bladder. The lungs were not in 
the least congested. There was a slight discolouration of the 
membrane covering the spinal cord at that part which passes 
through the bones of the sacrum. 
On exposing the brain, the pia mater covering the anterior in- 
ferior lobes of the cerebrum was found in a high state of injection 
- — it was nearly black. On making a section of the medullary 
mass, many minute red points were observed on the exposed sur- 
face. There was a quantity of sanguineous fluid in the lateral ven- 
tricles. On the surface of the thalami, there was an arborescent 
appearance, constituted by the minute vessels ramifying on the 
pia mater of that part. 
I have purposely refrained from advancing any hypothesis. 
My only object in writing to you was, to furnish data, in con- 
junction with others, to enable those in the profession better 
qualified to do the subject that justice which its importance de- 
mands. I would only ask, in conclusion, whether firing over the 
frontal bone, with some powerful counter-irritant applied irnme- 
