494 
SPASMS OF THE DIAPHRAGM. 
from the owner, I felt assured that the presence of worms in the 
intestinal canal was the principal cause of these nervous affec¬ 
tions ; and I consequently prescribed the emetic tartar, in doses 
of half a drachm, administered every half hour, in a consider¬ 
able quantity of water: six drachms were thus administered in 
as many hours, and each dose dissolved in a pound and a half of 
water. Enemas of emetic tartar dissolved in water were also 
occasionally administered. 
On the following morning I was agreeably surprised to see the 
animal in question feeding like its companions. The owner 
assured me that the horse had suffered a great deal of pain 
during the night, and which had not ceased until after the eva¬ 
cuation of much liquid feces that contained a quantity of 
worms, the number of which he estimated at four hundred. I do 
not doubt the fact, for I saw at least two hundred still remaining 
on the litter. 
The horse has been well from that time. 
Recueilf Mai. 
SPASMS OF THE DIAPHRAGM. 
Bi/ Mr. John Tombs, Pershore (late Bengal Horse Artillery). 
May Qth, 1834.—A five-year old brown mare had been out 
at grass some few days, when she was taken suddenly ill with 
the following symptoms :—Pulse exceedingly weak, 60 beats in 
a minute ; respiration quick and laborious, but the sides did not 
contract so much as in pneumonia; conjunctiva very much 
reddened; did not lie down, shivered a great deal; appetite 
lost. R Copious venesection; and an aperient ball. In the 
evening violent palpitations of the diaphragm came on, which 
was discovered by a tremendous and loud noise inside the ribs, 
as though a man was in the thorax beating the ribs with a 
hammer: the noise proceeded principally from the left side, 
midway between the spine of the back and the ninth rib. Pulse 
almost imperceptible. Bleed largely, and give 5j of opium: vo¬ 
latile liniment applied to the whole exterior part of the ribs oppo¬ 
site the diaphragm, from the posterior point of the sternum to 
the first lumbar vertebra, and to the extremities. 
7th, A.M.— Convulsions of diaphragm less, although the noise 
can be distinctly heard. R opii 5j* Liniment used to the ribs 
and extremities : there was a total cessation of convulsions in 
the evening. 
