A CASK OF RUPTURED SPLEEN. 
sm 
the cavalry. He was not ridden in the ranks this day, in conse¬ 
quence of the rider having a bad leg. While out there did not 
appear to be any thing serious the matter with him : still the rider 
thought that there was something not right, as he shuffled about 
more than was usual or pleasant, and was eager to get at the 
grass. After remaining in the field more than two hours, he was 
brought home, and began to eat hay, and drank some water : this 
was about two o’clock, p.m. 
At three o’clock I first saw him, and found that he had been 
uneasy and moving about, and pawing with his fore legs, and 
did not fairly take to his food : his ears, legs, and body were 
warm and comfortable—respiration pretty natural— pulse fifty- 
five, and no distention of the abdomen. He was now uneasy 
when I saw him, and moving about. 
On considering the whole of the symptoms, I concluded that 
there was some irritation of the bowels ; I therefore made a drink 
of flour-meat, and boiled 5 ! of opium in it, and tried to drench him 
with it; but we could not get him to swallow more than a very 
little. I then gave him a ball with ^'i of opium, and he soon 
afterwards lay down, but almost immediately got up again. 
5 P.M. —I again saw him. The symptoms were more mys¬ 
terious. His pulse was about fifty, and rather indicating 
irritability; and although there came a force to the touch 
amounting almost to hardness, yet I thought there was some diffi¬ 
culty in the blood being driven along. As the symptoms were 
not violent, I left him alone, for the disease to develop itself. 
Mr. Hales, of Oswestry, veterinary surgeon of the regiment, 
saw him about this time, and thought he was affected by the 
opium. 
7 or 8 P.M. —We saw him together: his pulse was still about 
fifty, and of the same character as before--the breathing but 
little accelerated—the conjunctiva pale : he lies down occa¬ 
sionally at full length, but does not roll over;—he has eaten a 
little hay, and drunk some water. He looks sometimes at his 
side, and seems anxious and heavy;—the mouth rather clammy 
—the perspiration is not increased. We now bled him from the 
left jugular. On pressing the vein, it felt flabby, and was not 
distended so much as it usually is: the blood was with difficulty 
obtained, and was very thin. I should think that we did not catch 
above two quarts, but when he lay down we found that he had 
bled nearly two or three quarts more. Give ^hj of aloes. 
9.—I now fancied to myself that he might have swallowed 
more of the drink than we thought that he had, and was 
labouring under the effects of a strong dose of opium, though it 
was contrary to my experience of the effects of this drug after 
