25 
TIYDROTHORAX IN A HORSE.—PARACENTESIS 
THORACIS SUCCESSFULLY PERFORMED. 
By G. Holmes, M.R.C.V.S., Beverley. 
Not long since, my attendance was requested by Mr. 
Metcalf, of Walkington Wold, about six miles from this 
place, on account of all his horses being affected, more or 
less severely, with influenza. The symptoms present were, 
swelling of the glands of the throat, cough, mucous dis¬ 
charge from nostrils, increased vascularity of the mem¬ 
branes, and febrile excitement. 
The usual remedial means were resorted to for about ten 
days, when, to all appearance, the animals were convalescent. 
The mare in question was very irritable and bad tempered, 
and she was put to work a little earlier than she ought to 
have been. After working three or four days, Mr. Metcalf 
observed that she had fallen off very much in condition : he 
therefore turned her in a loose box, and allowed her to 
remain quiet for a week. She fed well and looked pretty 
cheerful up to the seventh day, when she ate very little, and 
began to heave at the flanks. On the next day she seemed 
very much distressed, her breathing had become laborious, 
she stretched her head straight out, and her nostrils were 
much distended. Mr. M. sent for me, and requested my 
immediate attendance, as the mare, he considered, was labour¬ 
ing under a very severe attack of inflammation of the lungs. 
In the mean time he thought he would bleed her; but his 
foreman wisely begged of him to do nothing until I arrived. 
When I got there, I at once saw that effusion had taken 
place, and that she had water in the chest, or hydrothorax. Not 
having any instruments with me for operating, I left her, with 
the understanding that I would return on the following morn¬ 
ing and operate ; at the same time, I gave the owner no hopes 
of her recovery. At eight o’clock the same evening, however, 
I received a message, saying it was evident that the mare 
could not live until the morning, and her breathing had 
become so much worse they could hear it sixty yards off. 
I went immediately, and, seeing that any dela} r would be 
dangerous, I at once made an opening with the trocar on the 
near side, near the anterior border of the ninth rib, when 
serum flowed out in abundance, and continued to do so with 
the greatest freedom, until no less a quantity than two and a 
xxxii. 4 
