CASE OF IRREGULAR STRANGLES. 
393 
not cough. Is warm and comfortable, and eats some hay. Has 
not been lying down lately. Gave a dose of potas. iodid., hyd. 
chlor. and ant. potas. tart, twice in the day. At night he was about 
the same, if excited. 
1] th .—9 A.M. Respiration more quickened. Something like * 
a bad thick-winded horse. Not like pneumonia or broken wind. 
I even now fancied there was only some abscess pressing about 
the windpipe or about the larynx, and that when it burst all w&uld 
be right again. Its exact site I could not assign; it seemed as 
if it was towards the larynx or nostrils. I gave him 3 s s of potas. 
iodid. in some water, which he drank freely, and I then left him, 
little thinking of hearing of his death so soon: indeed I did not the 
least suspect it. 
10 A.M. The groom was in the stable at this time. He informed 
me that the horse seemed uneasy, and began to cough, and that 
his breathing became much laboured, and he bit at the manger and 
rack, and soon after fell down, and instantly died. 
Post-Mortem Examination. Before commencing skinning him, 
I ordered the butcher to stick him, although he had been dead 
an hour or two; when he accordingly plunged his knife between 
the ribs, and the left shoulder, whence issued out blood and pus. 
After clearing the integuments from the trachea and about the 
breast, I came to the seat of the abscess, which was about the size 
of a large fist, situate near the first rib upon the right side, and 
completely pressing upon the trachea, which was flattened con¬ 
siderably by it, for at least six inches in length; so that there was 
no doubt but that, when he was alive, the abscess must have 
obstructed respiration most materially. The larynx was highly 
inflamed. All other parts healthy. Saw no other abscess in any 
other part of the body. 
Observations .—I think there cannot be a doubt but that the 
abscess was the cause of death, as his respiration had been 
impeded for several days, since he has been heard to make a 
roaring noise, which I fancied proceeded from the vicinity of the 
larynx or nostrils, since the latter were observed much dilated when 
he was spasmodically excited. The immediate cause of death, I 
am inclined to think, arose from a fit of coughing. This abruptly 
terminated his existence, and much sooner than I expected. 
I have met with several cases of irregular strangles, where 
abscesses of an immense size have gradually formed between the 
shoulder and the body, from which eight or ten quarts of pus have 
issued on opening them, and the colts, the subjects of them, have 
done well. 
