US 
ON WOUNDS PENETRATING INTO THE CHEST OF 
THE HORSE. 
By M.M. U. Leblanc, M, V., and Principal Editor of the Journal de Med. 
Vet., and A. Trousseau, M.D. 
[Continued from page 71 , and concluded.] 
15. Wounds of the Cavity of the Chesty complicated with Injury 
of the Pubnonary Tissue, 
Wounds of this kind may be classed under the following 
divisions:— 
Superficial Wounds of the Lung .—Wounds an inch in depth, 
made with the blade of a bistoury retracted in a direction con¬ 
trary to that in which it had been introduced, have never been 
followed by any marked derangement of the pulmonary functions. 
We have opened many horses that had been thus wounded. 
Some were destroyed two hours after the infliction of the wound: 
others were suffered to live two days afterwards. These wounds 
never produced any great degree of hemorrhage. After two 
hours they were very difficult to find, unless the exact spot on 
which they had been inflicted had been previously remarked. 
Their edges had been brought exactly together, and had been 
glued to each other, if we may so speak, by a layer of fibrine. 
The neighbourhood of the wound was a little reddened. After 
the lapse of a day, the portion surrounding the wound w'as of a 
somewhat yellow colour. The thin fibrous clot which re-united 
the edge of the wound was very solid; nevertheless, when we 
extended the wounded lung it always gave way at the situation 
of the wound. After two days the cicatrix was as firm as the 
pulmonary tissue itself. 
2. Deep Wounds of the Lung .—The serious nature of these 
wounds seems to depend less than could be expected on their 
depth. We have seen wounds four or five inches deep, made 
with straight instruments, sharp and pointed, that have not been 
followed by any serious consequence, and that, in the space of an 
hour, have been closed by a fibrinous clot, like superficial wounds. 
On the other hand, we have seen a w'ound only two inches in 
depth, and made by the same instrument, produce death in a 
quarter of an hour. In this case the instrument had opened an 
artery, and one of the divisions of the bronchi. The animal died 
of suffocation from the presence of mingled blood and air in the 
bronchi. This complication of wound will seldom occur; for it 
was not until we had repeated the experiment many times, twenty 
at least, on different horses, that we were able to wound at the 
same time an artery and a bronchial tube. 
