160 A CASE OF RUPTURE OF THE DIAPHRAGM. 
been observed by a common spectator. His appearance was that of 
fatigue. He sweated much all over, but especially inside the 
thighs and on the flanks, and the clothing was nearly saturated 
with it. 
Treatment . — I ordered him to be well cleaned and to have 
fresh clothing. His pulse and general appearance puzzled me, 
and made me scarcely know what to do, or whether I should bleed 
him : but as I knew that he had been over-exerted, and had al- 
ready been drenched, &c. and also from his respiration being toler- 
ably free, I declined bleeding him for the present. 
Six P.M. — He was as nearly as possible in the same state, but 
was clean and comfortable, and did not sweat so much. 
Nearly ten P.M. — I had been obliged to be absent from him 
longer than I could have wished, and, at this date, found him altered 
considerably for the worse, and I informed the owner and attend- 
ants that I thought he would live but a short time. His breathing 
was that of a broken-winded horse in the worst stage. The pulse 
intermittent as before, and quicker. He was very restless, and 
the countenance expressed distress. The nostrils and eyelids were 
injected. He sweated much, especially between the hindlegs and 
down the thighs. I bled him on the off side of the neck, but did 
not obtain a quart of blood. I also opened the two thigh veins, 
which were much dilated, but little blood came from them. He 
now began to stagger about, and was evidently near his end. He 
fell down, and lay laboriously breathing for about five minutes. 
He got up again, but soon fell once more ; he struggled violently 
for a little while, and died. 
Examination . — There was an immense rupture in the dia- 
phragm, extending from the ensiform cartilage and up the middle 
of the near half, quite to the vertebrae. The lungs on the near 
side were congested, and had an appearance very much resembling 
the spleen. The near lung was small, and not half the size of the 
other, which was emphysematous throughout its whole texture, 
and of a great size : it had a whitish appearance, and on cutting 
into it scarcely any blood followed the knife. 
Observations . — I have no doubt but the rupture of the diaphragm 
was the cause of this horse’s death. The lung on the side ruptured 
was certainly diseased ; but I consider it merely a consequence of 
it being pressed against the diaphragm and through the rupture; or 
from some portion of the bowels being forced through the rent upon 
the lung, and impeding its action. It is a question with me if the 
pain that the horse evinced on the Sunday was not connected with 
the diaphragm, and if there might not have been a partial rupture 
at that time. If the rupture was partially effected on the Sunday, 
or wholly on the Monday, would there not have been a more in- 
