170 
CONSULTATIONS. 
Mr. Dick’s Reply. 
My dear Sir,—I am inclined to ascribe the rupture of the dia¬ 
phragm to the distention of the stomach and intestines with gas, 
and that it had taken place after death. This is quite a common 
occurrence, when a considerable period is allowed to elapse be¬ 
tween the time of death and the sectio cadaveris, which must have 
happened in the case in question, and is readily explained from 
the circumstance of the muscles losing their strength, and becoming 
easily torn after death. 
I have no doubt that the cause of death was inflammation of the 
bowels, brought on either by cold produced by plunging through 
the river, or, far more probably, by the sudden change to green food, 
and the mare being allowed to eat too freely of it. She probably 
might have been saved by proper and prompt treatment. I do not 
think the hirer can be fairly called upon to 
the mare. 
W. Dick. 
indemnify the owner of 
No. XII. 
Super-purgation and inflamed Lungs. 
Ayrshire, 28th August, 1839. 
Sir,— The loss of a horse from a seemingly trifling cause induces 
me to trouble you upon the present occasion. This day week my 
servant informed me that, upon his going into the stable in the 
morning, he found one of my best cart-horses, about eight years 
old, and in good condition, very lame, and a scratch covered with 
coagulated blood upon his near hind leg, a little above the pastern 
joint. I sent for our smith, who bled him, and rubbed the part 
with a solution of sugar of lead, and ordered him to be fed upon 
bran mashes and a little hay. The leg swelled and seemed very 
painful, for the animal was restless, and unable to bear the slight¬ 
est pressure upon the part. 
He continued in this state four or five days, when, a friend acci¬ 
dentally calling, I told him of the misfortune which my horse had 
met with. He went to the stable with me, and, after examining 
the leg, found that at the extremity of the scratch there was a 
small puncture, as if made by a nail, and nearly an inch and a half 
deep behind the bone of the leg. He advised me to foment it well 
with hot water, to apply bran poultices, and give the horse a dose 
of physic on the next morning, all of which I did; and in two days 
the swelling was reduced, the leg seemed free from pain, and the 
