690 WEST OF SCOTLAND VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 
simply plugged with tow saturated iu carbolic liniment, to prevent 
the ingress of the atmosphere. About two hours after admit¬ 
tance the animal appeared to have rallied so much that we 
thought there might be a possible chance of his recovery. Ad¬ 
ministered Ammon. Carb. 3 iv in bolus, and applied a strong 
stimulant to the region of the thorax, on either side. The 
Ammon. Carb. was repeated as often as it was thought necessary, 
soft food allowed, with an occasional dose of 01. Lini as an 
aperient, the wound attended to, and the animal kept as quiet as 
possible. Contrary to expectation but very little pleurisy super¬ 
vened, the appetite remained good, the pulse became natural at 
the end of the second day and remained so; and the wound 
progressed favorably towards healing. 
June 6th.—Animal sent home with injunctions to bring him 
to the college every second day to have the wound attended to, 
as it had now become so much like a small sinus that fears w’ere 
entertained of its ultimately developing into a fistula. Between 
the 6th and the 18th he was only brought in two or three times. 
On the latter date it was observed that he had become much 
thinner; the mucous membranes were pallid; the breathing hur¬ 
ried; pulse irregular but not much quickened. Considerable 
oedema of the sheath was present with great stiffness of both 
hind legs, and soreness when made to move. A straw-coloured 
serum was flowing from the wound, but on auscultation no indi¬ 
cations of any serious mischief going on in the pleura could be 
detected, although a suspicion was entertained that the fluid which 
escaped from the wound was secreted by that membrane and 
found its way through the aperture in the rib as quickly as 
formed. Our prognosis was now more unfavorable than before, 
and we came to the conclusion that the pericardium was also 
involved in the mischief. 
19th.—On auscultation over the cardiac region I found that 
the heart was beating violently against the side, not palpitating, 
but with a regular, steady, dead thump, giving an impetus to the 
intercostal muscles at each beat, and the pulse 56. This action I 
attributed to hypertrophy, and with a view of relieving it and 
removing the swollen condition of the sheath, I ordered Pulv. 
Digitalis ^iss, Pot. Carb. ^iij in ball, repeating the dose the fol¬ 
lowing morning, with the effect of steadying the action of the 
heart, reducing its beats to 48, and giving much relief to the 
animal. No further treatment was had recourse to, and on the 
22nd he was destroyed. 
Autopsy .—On laying bare the seat of injury the fractured rib 
was discovered, its broken ends having undergone false unition. 
An aperture existed in the centre of this false unition, surrounded 
by a crop of granulations internally, which had the effect of 
