A NEEDLE WITHIN THE THORAX OF A COW. 665 
time he observed she had a cough ; but not thinking it more than 
a slight cold, there was no attention paid to her so long as she did 
not refuse her food or decrease in milk. It was not until this took 
place that I was sent for. 
The following symptoms presented themselves. On my arrival 
at the cow-house I found her at every expiration making a sort of 
half grunt, half moan—breathing very laboriously—an immense 
quantity of saliva coming from her mouth—her breath had a very 
offensive smell—mouth and extremities cold — pulse 100 per 
minute. She was standing with her elbows out and toes turned in, 
no doubt to admit of the freer expansion of the chest. The shoulders 
assumed a strange appearance, probably caused by the throwing 
out of the legs, the muscles being put on the stretch, and, from not 
being supplied with proper nutritious blood, appearing atrophied. 
On auscultation I could not detect any respiratory murmur what¬ 
ever in any part of the right lung, and only to a small extent in 
the left. The bowels were rather costive, although some castor 
oil, combined with Castile soap, had been administered. This 
latter symptom appeared to me rather strange, as I considered the 
case one of pleuro-pneumonia, and that in the last stage, viz. grey 
hepatization, which generally exhibits diarrhoea or dysentery. 
Considering the case a hopeless one, I resolved not to treat it; 
but the owner being very desirous that I should do something, I 
consented, and administered a simple laxative combined with a 
little stimulant, and three quart bottles of gruel sweetened with 
treacle; more with the view of gratifying him than with any hope 
of relieving the patient. I visited her the next day. The medi¬ 
cine had operated slightly. I, with the same intention as before, 
ordered her plenty of gruel; but, as near as I can recollect, she 
died the following day. 
I had an opportunity of making a post-mortem examination. 
The bowels seemed to be quite normal; in fact, all the abdominal 
viscera appeared to be in a perfect state of health, with the excep¬ 
tion of the third stomach, and that was considerably impacted with 
food between its laminse. But in opening the chest I found a great 
mass of disease. The right lung was entirely solid, with the ex¬ 
ception of a large abscess in it, which may have contained a pint 
and a half of a pale yellowish matter, having a very offensive 
smell, somewhat similar to that of her breath. The lung was ad¬ 
hering to the parietes of the chest. With the intention of remov¬ 
ing it, I passed my scalpel between the two pleura?. Finding 
some difficulty in getting the knife down, I withdrew it, and dis¬ 
sected carefully in order to discover the cause of obstruction. I 
found a cartilaginous tumour, about the diameter of a pigeon’s eger, 
extending from the pleuro-costalis for a small distance into the 
