38 
REPORTS OF CASES. 
which had ruptured into the right lung and thence into the 
right bronchial system, inducing the above-related symptoms of 
pulmonary abscess. The right lung was affected throughout, 
the central portion had completely broken down, constituting a 
dependency to the abscess in the mediastinum, while the sur¬ 
rounding area was necrotic, black and extremely foetid. The 
periphery showed varying degrees of hepatization and necrosis. 
The left lung showed minor areas of hepatization. The 
pleura of right lung was congested, that of left apparently 
healthy. The pleural cavity contained an ordinary amount of 
lymph darkly colored. 
The three preceding cases of spurious pulmonary abscess 
suggests the inquiry, how frequently and under what conditions 
does genuine pulmonary abscess occur? We see large suppu¬ 
rating cavities in tuberculosis, actinomycosis, and perhaps other 
chronic infections, but find scant definite data as to the occur¬ 
rence of pulmonary abscess proper from metastasis in acute 
suppurative infections. 
penetrating wound of The lung. * 
By W. J. Martin, M. D. C., Kankakee, Ill. 
On the morning of August 28, 1900, I was hurriedly called 
to attend a mare that had, it was thought, been gored in the 
pasture by a bull some time during the night. Upon arriving 
at the scene of the accident, I found the patient, a roan mare, 
six years old, standing in a stall, from which she was backed 
for my inspection with difficulty. While the mare was standing 
still, and also during movement, a current of air could be heard 
escaping with a slight hissing sound both during inspiration and 
expiration from a wound in the pleural cavity. The wound was 
situated on the right side, between the sixth and seventh ribs, 
and on a line extending about four inches above the elbow 
joint. 
The wound in the skin and external muscles was six inches 
in length, and the edges were of a very ragged nature ; the rent 
in the intercostal muscles and pleura measured four inches in 
length. The intercostal muscles attached to the sixth rib had 
been torn entirely loose from their attachment and hung in 
shreds over the edges of the wound. 
The fingers, rendered strictly aseptic, were passed into the 
wound and on into the chest cavity, where shreds of the pleurae 
and small torn pieces of the lung substance were felt. There 
* Read before the Illinois State Veterinary Medical Association, February 12 , 1901 . 
