CASE OF INFLUENZA. 
543 
generally we perceive it four or five days before it puts a ter¬ 
mination to the disease : I was, therefore, fairly taken by surprise. 
I put my knives into my pocket, to make a post-mortem, not 
knowing what I should find. 
As I went to the place where the dead horse lay, I thought 
over the symptoms, and endeavoured to recollect if there had been 
any indication to which I had not paid sufficient attention at the 
time. I could remember nothing, neither could I recall any cir¬ 
cumstance that might account for the sudden ending of the case. 
Completely beaten, I began the examination, and, as there were 
plenty of witnesses, all I state can be amply corroborated. The 
larger intestines were full of fluid, but with it was mixed a fair 
proportion of solid food, the dung in the rectum being of a pul- 
taceous consistence. The peritoneum was healthy, and the in¬ 
testines not thickened in any part. The lining membrane of the 
ccecum and a portion of the colon was discoloured, and here and 
there were to be seen small patches of very slight inflammation; 
indeed, so small and weak were these marks, that they required 
searching in order to find them. 
The stomach was healthy, and contained a fair proportion of 
food. The liver was a little pallid, but not enlarged or otherwise 
affected. The kidneys healthy, but the bladder contracted and 
devoid of urine. The heart was normal, but within the left 
ventricle was a firm clot of white fibrin, which extended up the 
aorta for some distance. The left lung, on which the horse had 
lain, was congested ; the right was natural, and portions of both 
floated when thrown into water. The pleura was bright and 
transparent. 
Enough was seen to evidence the horse had not been in perfect 
health, but nothing to explain the cause of death. The contents 
of the abdomen and chest were in such a condition as confirmed 
the opinion I had expressed that the disease was subsiding, and 
the animal getting well; yet there was the fact which ought to be 
accounted for, and, though our post-mortems are heavy and dirty 
work, 1 was obliged to look to the brain. When removing the 
head, I was struck by the excessively distended condition of the 
bloodvessels. In the trunk there had seemed to be rather a de¬ 
ficiency of blood, but about the head everybody present observed 
its abundance. On laying bare the brain, I found its vessels 
gorged, forming dark lines upon its surface; the membranes 
likewise were similarly characterised, the sinuses and veins being 
distended. No fluid, however, was found in the ventricles, and 
the plexus choroides were particularly small, pallid, and devoid of 
blood: they were so much altered from their usual appearance, 
that at first I almost thought they were absent, and only after 
