STRANGLES FOLLOWING SUPERPURGATION. 
81 
the sternum, and bringing the pericardium into view, I found it 
to contain about two quarts of fluid. It presented patches of 
inflammation, and was considerably thickened. The left side 
of the heart was very much enlarged ; the right might be said to 
be in a state of dilatation, and so flaccid, that it would seem as if 
every contraction would have ruptured it. The pleurae pulmo- 
nalis and costalis that lay in contact with the pericardium were 
slightly inflamed ; the lungs and abdominal viscera were per¬ 
fectly healthy. The abscess under the jaw had broken inter¬ 
nally, and shewed every sign of speedy resolution. 
I have no doubt that the excitement produced in the system by 
the cathartic medicine disposed the colt to strangles, and, that 
disease interfering with respiration, the heart had to perform an 
extra function ; and being already in a diseased state, the death 
of the animal ensued. This also was the cause of the horse 
being in an emaciated condition so long. - Whether hypertrophy 
of the heart is produced by over-exertion I cannot pretend to 
say, but this horse was always a very free worker. 
Such cases as the above, Messrs. Editors, shew the necessity 
of the veterinary surgeon’s making post-mortem examinations 
himself. In too many instances the practitioner never attends ; 
and the owner, not being able to trace the connexion between 
the cause of the disease and the effect produced, and sometimes 
not knowing healthy organs from diseased, draws a wrong 
conclusion; and thus the professional reputation of a man is 
seriously injured. 
A CASE OF SINGULAR AFFECTION OF THE BRAIN 
AND PARALYSIS. 
By Mr . C. Dickens, V.S, y Kimbolton. 
March 1 9th y 1833, I was requested to see a heifer that was 
lying in a field a mile from hence, the owner stating that she 
had something the matter with her head. When I arrived she 
appeared quite insensible; she would get up and run a few yards 
with her head thrust forward, as if unconscious where she was 
going, and all at once fall as if shot. This she repeated several 
times in the short space of ten minutes, when she lay prostrate 
from total exhaustion, and I had an opportunity of noticing the 
following symptoms: the pulse 40, and oppressed; nose dry; 
mouth frothy; conjunctival vessels highly injected; pupils di¬ 
lated ; the surface of the body and extremities warm; the horns 
hot; and very great heat at the back of the occiput; the faeces 
of good consistency; the respiration slightly hurried. 
