70 RUPTURE OP THE LATERAL SINUS OF THE BRAIN. 
But that I found was impossible, for the legs had lost all 
power of supporting the body, and the head fell towards the 
ground as if the neck was broken. 
The proprietor was now very desirous of having my decided 
opinion on the case, which being unfavorable, he at once 
gave directions for her to be destroyed. This was done by 
cutting her throat, the head being reserved for my inspection. 
In so doing, I found, on raising a portion of the bones of 
the cranium, that a considerable quantity of sanguineous 
fluid flowed out. The vessels of the brain and its mem- 
branes were surcharged with blood, and upon, and surround- 
ing the thalamus, was a clot of blood weighing about four 
drachms, which had escaped from one of the lateral sinuses 
on the left side of the brain.- 
Although cases of this kind are very frequently met w r ith 
in hospitals, and also in the private practice of the human 
surgeon, I am not aware of a single instance before this being 
recorded in any veterinary publication as occurring in the horse. 
Yet I am disposed to believe it does occasionally take place, 
but escapes our observation. Are we not often greatly per- 
plexed to account for the cause of many of those annoying 
cases of palsy, in its various forms, that come under our treat- 
ment ? 
I feel at a loss to account for this rupture. Might it not 
have been from a heavy blow on the carotid artery at the 
superior part of the neck ? Or may not the animal have 
fallen on her head, doubling the nose towards the breast, 
and thus produced the rupture? Or had the membranes 
forming the sinus become so thin that they gave way under 
the powerful pulsatory action of the artery, especially when 
the animal was feeding off the ground ? 
I have the head of another horse now lying before 
me, which bears great similarity to the one I have re- 
ported. I will send it for your inspection. The animal 
had been ill and under treatment for a few days before we 
were called in. On Saturday morning it was found lying 
down in the box, and unable to rise. Means were tried 
to get him on his legs, but to no purpose, and he died about 
10 o’clock p.m. the following day. 
