ANEURISM IN THE BENDING OF THE ARM IN A COW. 125 
may be true that this fluid possesses a very great and almost 
exclusive property of arresting haemorrhage in the domesticated 
animals, will it follow that it will have the same effect on haemor- 
rhage in the human being 1 We must be permitted to entertain 
some doubt about this. 
Recueil, Oct . 1838. 
A CASE OF ANEURISM IN THE BENDING OF THE 
ARM IN A COW. 
By Mr. C. SNEWING, of Rugby. 
Early in the morning of the 3d of October last, I was sent for 
to visit a milking cow, the property of Mr. E. Driver, of Clarendon 
House, on the arm of which a considerable tumour had made its 
appearance in the course of the preceding night. It was on the 
outside of the elbow-joint, extending across from the olecranon 
towards the dewlap, not possessing the characters of phlegmon, 
but soft, and yielding to pressure, and seemingly accompanied by 
very little pain. To a non- veterinary observer it bore the aspect 
of having arisen from the bite of a venemous reptile ; but the 
almost total absence of pain, and the slight augmentation in heat, 
led me to reflect differently regarding its nature. 
As it was the first case of the kind which I had seen, I may, 
perhaps, be pardoned if I state the train of thought which passed 
in my mind, especially as it may enable others to reason more 
accurately than I was disposed to do. “ It is evidently fluctuating. 
Can it be an effusion of serum I I know not from what source 
that could be derived. Is it a deep-seated abscess, obeying the 
laws of nature, and forcing its way externally 1 Its situation ren- 
ders that improbable. It is hard to decide on its nature.” I con- 
fess that the idea of its being an aneurism did not then present 
itself to my mind. “ At all events, I will give an aperient, use a 
sedative lotion, and await the result.” 
No alteration appearing to take place during ten days, excepting 
the sensation of fluctuation becoming more perceptible towards the 
centre of it, and the interstitial substance between it and the skin 
being removed by ulceration, I ventured to thrust my lancet into 
it, in order to ascertain its real nature, when, to my great surprise, 
a rush of blood followed the withdrawal of the instrument, but it 
almost immediately ceased. 
Now, for the first time, some alarming suspicions of its being an 
aneurism occurred. At all hazards I determined to be convinced 
of the real nature of the case. I introduced my finger into the orifice 
VOL. XII. R 
