OF THE PATELLA. 
133 
“ While the groom was giving her a decoction of linseed on the 
23d, she fell down ; and, after she was got up, she walked out of 
the stable to all appearance sound ; but before she had gone fifty 
yards she dragged her leg behind her as before. The spasm had 
appeared to cease for a short time, if it was a case of that sort. 
Feb. 2 d. — No better. A drachm of powdered opium to be 
given every evening, and the sacral vertebrae and the whole limb 
to be blistered. 
10^A. — Pulse 42. Sinking in condition — appetite not so good. 
The blister rose well, but the limb is as rigid as ever. After giving 
her a few doses of the opium, my father now said he would work 
his own way, for she became very uneasy and full of pain, and 
he said that a few more doses would have killed her. 
I did not see her again until the 25th. The pulse was then 55. 
All the muscles of the limb appear to be wasting, but the limb was 
as stiff as ever. Bleeding, purging, and stimulants, had been used 
since my last visit. Mr. , a surgeon of that place, had 
kindly consented to look at the mare, and at his suggestion she 
was taking nitre, camphor, and emetic tartar ; and another blister 
had been applied. 
March 3 d. — Pulse 44. A mere skeleton, and the appetite 
nearly gone. 
10^A. — Pulse 41. The other symptoms the same. I ordered a 
drachm of opium to be given daily. 
14^. — Pulse 50. Respiration greatly increased, which had hi- 
therto been tolerably tranquil — partial sweats are breaking out, and 
she is continually looking round at her flank. The limb as stiff 
as before. The swelling had remained stationary ever since the 
rowelling, and was now exceedingly painful to the touch. I or- 
dered the opium to be discontinued. I begged that she might not 
be destroyed, for I was anxious to see what would be the termina- 
tion of the case. 
“ She remained until the 25th, when we determined to move her 
from the stall in which she had been all this time standing. A 
rope was^ixed round the pastern of the stiff leg, and an assistant 
had hold of it, to pull the leg forward every step she took. In 
this way she was dragged along, as it were, for the space of five or 
VOL. XII. s 
