SPASMODIC ACTION OF THE DIAPHRAGM. 
19 
mare appeared in great agony, rolling, pawing, &c. with inter¬ 
vals of tranquility, and a slight appearance of lethargy. When 
standing, she occasionally elevated her head and depressed the 
back, a symptom which I have frequently observed in gastric 
affections, and one which I think characteristic of the disease. 
The pulse was a little accelerated. 
On inquiry, I was informed that the mare was taken from 
grass in the morning, and that she had eaten three pecks of oats 
during the day. The mixture was given; soap introduced up 
the rectum, followed by clysters of warm water: friction was ap¬ 
plied at intervals to the abdomen, &c. which did not afford any 
relief. 
I then had her belly well rubbed with mustard, mixed with 
the oil of turpentine, and gave a clyster of tobacco smoke with¬ 
out any apparent benefit. 
At six A.M. I abstracted Ib.ii of blood, and directed the assist¬ 
ants to put an infusion of oatmeal within her reach; also to give 
clysters of warm water every hour, and to be kept without other 
food during the day: after which f left my patient, and sent the 
following laxative mixture; two drachms of Castile soap dis¬ 
solved in boiling water, to which were gradually added ol. lini 
^xii, ol. croton, tiglii gutt. xxx, and which was given to her 
about nine a. m. with good effect. 
On my visiting her in the evening, I was informed that the 
acute pain left her in about an hour after the medicine was 
given, and that she had been standing with her head in the 
manger most of the day, but had drank some of the infusion 
several times since 1 saw her. She was lethargic, and with a 
slow pulse. The infusion was continued, and no food allowed 
for the night. 
In the morning of the third day I was informed that the mare 
was free from pain ; but the people about her considered her 
worse, as a beating had commenced in the near side during the 
night, which might be heard at a considerable distance, and the 
person said that it was just as ij' something was kicking her inside 
from the hip to the breast, I was at some loss to account for 
this audible beating; however, on visiting my patient it was too 
manifest to be mistaken. The near side was convulsed, accom¬ 
panied by a dull sound, which might be heard at several yards 
distance. On placing my hand over the heart, its action could 
not be clearly felt; but the beating proceeded from behind that 
organ, and was most perceptible as well as most distinctly traced 
to its source in the direction of the diaphragm. The jerks were 
from forty to forty-five in a minute, and, on shifting my hand 
to the abdomen, they apparently came from before, backwards. 
