HEART IN THE HORSE. 
119 
ceptible. She kept up a continual movement, flexing and ex¬ 
tending the left fore leg, while convulsive sighs escaped from her 
chest, indicating very great suffering. 
Although not knowing to what to attribute a disorder so seri¬ 
ous and so sudden, and being assured that it could not be traced 
to any derangement of the digestive canal, I could not remain an 
inactive spectator, but endeavoured to relieve the acute pain 
which the animal evidently experienced. I administered an ounce 
of laudanum in a bottle of water, which she drank with plea¬ 
sure, or rather with avidity; and I made her swallow a second 
bottle of pure water. 
From that time until about six o’clock the movement of the 
flanks ceased for a few seconds at intervals, and the moaning also 
ceased. At six she was quite calm, and endeavoured to raise 
herself, but could not accomplish it without the assistance of 
several men. She was staggering, and seemed to be frightened. 
I made them rub her well down, threw some warm clothing over 
her; she perspired abundantly, and was sufficiently calm to 
whinny a little. 
I congratulated myself on the success of the treatment, and 
thought that the affair was terminated ; when, at eleven o’clock, 
she again lay down, struggled a little, and died. 
Astonished at a death so unexpected, I followed her carcass 
to the knacker’s, and proceeded to examine her. 
The cranial cavity contained a little serosity. The membranes 
of the brain adhered firmly to that organ, which could only be ex¬ 
tracted with difficulty, and mutilated. It was very large—its sub¬ 
stance was softened, and its vessels, as well as the plexus choroides, 
gorged with blood. The substance of the cerebellum appeared 
to me greyer than in its natural state; and the vessels of this 
cerebral appendix participated in the repletion of the rest of the 
encephalon. In lifting the skin which covered the neck and chest, 
I was struck with the excessive volume of the sub-cutaneous veins, 
and particularly of the jugular, which was at least ten lines in 
diameter. 
On opening the chest, I discovered the right lung on which the 
mare had lain. It was in a state of extraordinary congestion, 
considering the little time that had passed since her death; but my 
surprise was greater when, after lifting the anterior lobule of this 
lung, I discovered, through the mediastinum, which was ruptured, 
a voluminous mass of a fatty appearance, which I immediately 
recognized as belonging to the pericardium : it adhered closely to 
the heart, and there was only a small quantity of fluid in the bag. 
More and more astonished, I sought to discover the cause of 
this extraordinary anatomico-pathological phenomenon; and I 
