RUPTURE OF THE PERICARDIUM. 141 
and quivering—pulse 44—the respiration laborious, and his body 
covered with perspiration. 
I had him immediately removed into a loose box, and adminis¬ 
tered to him in solution aloes Barb. 5 X and tine, opii, Jij. In giving 
him the medicine as gently as possible, by means of a long-necked 
bottle, he threw himself down. I seized the opportunity of giving 
the remainder of the mixture, and extracting tbxvi of blood, after 
which I fancied there was a slight relaxation of the symptoms. A 
blister was then applied over the spine, sides, and surface of the 
abdomen. Two sheep-skins were thrown over him, with a view 
of exciting a copious perspiration. He was then left, no person 
being allowed to go near him, as the least noise caused great 
increase of the spasms. 
II P.M. —Very little alteration, and nothing has passed the 
bowels. I gave a clyster, in which was disolved crude opium 5 ij, and 
aloes 3 iij. Pulse imperceptible at the jaw, respiration very laborious. 
4 P.M. —He continued to get worse. The blister has taken 
some effect under the abdomen. Put thirty drops of croton oil on 
his tongue, as all my dependence is on getting the bowels to act. A 
few pellets of dung came from him, which were covered with a 
thick coat of bloody mucous. I administered a clyster, which he 
resisted very much. 
6 P.M.— On going into the stable, I heard a thumping sort of 
noise, as if it proceeded from the box at the farther end of the 
stable in which he was, and it turned out to be the case ; the noise 
was occasioned by a strong spasmodic action of. his = heart. He 
was suffering very much, and constantly kept his nose in a bucket 
of gruel, which was before him. I left him for a few minutes to 
get one of the men to assist me in bleeding him, and giving him a 
draught composed of hydrocyanic acid and magnes. sulph. in warm 
water, thinking by so doing to lower the action of the heart; but 
on returning to the stable I found him dead, with the straw scarcely 
disturbed. 
Post-mortem examination one hour after death. Abdomen .— 
There was a great deal of inflammation around the pyloric orifice 
of the stomach, and which extended for about six inches along the 
duodenum. The jejunum and ileum were not inflamed, except 
a small portion of the latter, where it terminates in the caecum. 
The mucous coats of the emeum, colon, and rectum, were consider¬ 
ably inflamed, as was also the mesentery. The large intestines con¬ 
tained a quantity of hardened faeces. 
'lliorax .—The lungs were gorged with red florid blood. The 
heart was much enlarged, and the pericardium ruptured. There 
was no blood in the heart. The larynx, and the trachea half way 
down its course, were inucli inflamed. 
VOL. xill. U 
