112 
REPORT OF THE ROYAL 
casses presented any trace of alteration at their roots. The ani¬ 
mals were opened within ten hours after death. 
As to the intestines of the other two splanchnic cavities, the 
lesions they offered were variable : the mucous coat of the gastro¬ 
intestinal portion was of a bright red in two of the subjects, and 
appeared quite healthy in the other two. In all four of them the 
faecal matter contained in the large intestines was dry, hard, and 
black. The kidneys were soft, and larger than in their natural 
state; the lungs were covered with tubercles about the size of a 
filberd, and most of them soft in the third; the peritoneum 
was intensely red on the inferior parts of the abdomen, and the 
heart pale and soft, in the fourth. 
6. Observations made some years ago have caused us to sus¬ 
pect the possibility of a rupture of some of the fleshy portion of 
the diaphragm after death, resulting from great distention of the 
abdominal cavity by intestinal gas. Two cases collected in the 
course of last year appear to put the matter beyond doubt. 
A coach horse while being harnessed fan his chest against the 
pole of a carriage which was- standing in the yard. Two ribs 
were fractured, the intercostal arteries opened, an effusion of 
blood followed into the corresponding pleuritic sac, and death 
ensued in less than twelve hours. This horse did not manifest, 
either soon after the accident or at any time before his death, 
any of the symptoms which usually follow accidental rupture of 
the diaphragm. He lived twelve or fifteen hours ; and his car¬ 
cass was opened after about the same space of time. The belly 
was very much distended; the diaphragm had been ruptured on 
the superior part of the right side, not far from the tendons ; the 
laceration was very irregular, and about four inches in length; the 
diaphragmatic curvature of the colon hermetically closed it; the 
fibres of the muscle were corrugated, and formed into irregular 
masses; the colour round the lacerated part was like that of the 
rest of the muscle, namely of a livid deathy hue, and the edges 
of them were not tumefied ; not one streak of blood stained it, 
nor was a drop of blood effused in the abdomen. 
A horse-gelder, who inherited his art from his grandfather and 
from his father, and who had established a reputation for adroit- 
