168 
CONSULTATIONS. 
and, from the appearances on dissection, give it as my opinion, that 
the immediate cause of death was a rupture of the diaphragm, from 
the ensiform cartilage to about its middle, and which must have re¬ 
cently taken place, for such an injury very speedily proves fatal: 
although I likewise believe that, from the high state of inflamma¬ 
tion in which the bowels were, and particularly the jejunum and 
the ileum, the animal could not, otherwise, have survived long. 
The lungs were also inflamed, and the left lobules highly so. 
The causes of rupture in the diaphragm are very obscure; but 
this lesion is usually the consequence of over-exertion, although it 
might in the above case have been the result of excessive disten¬ 
tion of some of the abdominal viscera. The stomach was distended 
almost to bursting, and contained more than thirty bots. Among 
the causes of inflammation of the intestines are sudden exposure to 
cold, or plunging into a river when heated in hunting, or violent ex¬ 
ercise, or the drinking of cold water when very warm. Spasmodic 
colic neglected or improperly treated is not an unfrequent cause : 
also, horses long confined to dry food will sometimes have spasmodic 
colic on suddenly gorging themselves with green meat. 
“ To-, Esq., Surgeon.” 
Two days afterwards I received the following reply. 
2d June, 1838. 
Dear Sir,—I received your report this morning, stating the im¬ 
mediate cause of the death of Mr. Thomson’s mare, as also an 
account of the inflamed state of some of the digestive organs, to¬ 
gether with a statement of the causes or circumstances which might 
produce rupture of the diaphragm. 
I feel particularly anxious to ascertain the cause from which the 
animal’s illness originated, if that can possibly be decided upon; 
and, in order to assist you in coming to a proper conclusion in the 
matter, I submit to your consideration the treatment of the mare 
for some time previous to her illness, which I have hitherto pur¬ 
posely refrained giving. 
She was ridden fairly, but neither too far or too fast, on the 
Wednesday and Thursday preceding her illness. On Friday, after 
being ridden a short journey, she was yoked to the plough by the 
owner, and there she worked the rest of that day, and the whole of the 
following day, and, being naturally willing, generally kept a-head 
of the other horse. On the evening of Saturday she was turned 
into a meadow where the grass was rich and luxuriant. During 
the whole of the Sabbath-day she was on the grass, with the excep¬ 
tion of a short interval. After five o’clock on Sunday evening I rode 
lier slowly, at the rate of from four to five miles an hour, and she 
