LIVERPOOL VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 
65 
In my very large experience among brood mares of all breeds I have 
not met with such another case, and I have introduced it to your notice 
to-night in older that I may elicit your valuable opinions upon it. 
I have purposely withheld all names for reasons satisfactory to myself, 
I trust; however, I think that you will agree with me that the case is a 
very interesting one. 
Mr. Hill , who stated that he was the veterinary surgeon who con¬ 
sulted with Mr. Storrar in this case, said that he differed in opinion 
from Mr. Storrar as to the immediate cause of death, and also as to the 
time when the muscular lesions took place. 
The mare, he said, had been repeatedly fattened for exhibition. 
She had taken sixteen first prizes. She had then a foal sucking her, 
and a foetus in utero. 
There was an entire absence of blood in the system, a pure fibrinous 
clot in the heart, and moulds in the larger vessels. He was of opinion 
that the ante-mortem clot in the heart was the cause of death, and 
from its white fibrinous character, extending as it did into the larger 
vessels, must have existed there for some time. 
He considered that the swelling was cedematous and due to debility, 
and that there was no rupture of the muscles when the first swellings 
appeared in the flanks. Besides, the swelling was in front of the flank and 
towards the median line'when scarified, which with the fact that similar 
swellings occurred at the elbow convinced him. Mr. Hill said that 
there was no rupture of the muscular tissue until about an hour before 
death, when she became very restless, and threw herself down on her bed 
with great violence. 
There was also hepatisation of the lung, which Mr. Storrar had omitted 
to mention, which goes to show the complicated diseased condition in 
which the animal was. 
Hr. Greenway considered that the immediate cause of death was 
anaemia of the brain ; of course the clots would be the means of shutting 
off the supply, and might in that sense be considered the cause of death. 
Speaking of the formation of clots, he said that in cases of sudden death 
the heart would be found empty or nearly so. When death was less 
sudden the heart would be found filled with dark coloured clots extend¬ 
ing into the vessels ; but when death was prolonged, as in this case, 
there would be white fibrinous clots in the heart, and moulds in the 
vessels leading from it. He was of opinion that the kidneys should have 
been examined in this case. 
Mr. Greaves was of opinion that the cause of death dated from the 
time that the accident to the muscles happened, which was at the first 
appearance of the swelling in the flanks. He said some fat horses would 
faint before you can get two quarts of blood away from them. He was, 
therefore, of opinion that first the rupture and escape of the fluid, then 
the scarifying and further draining the system of blood and serum, 
brought on fatal syncope, which was the cause of death. 
Mr. Reynolds said that animals fed for exhibition purposes had a 
tendency to the formation of fat instead of muscle. He was of opinion 
that in this case the abdominal muscles had become deficient in tone, 
and had partially ruptured at the first appearance of the swelling. 
Mr. Welsby, President, said that the mare being a keen pasturer, having 
no work, and getting very little exercise, would have a decided tendency 
to produce fat at the expense of muscle. He concurred in the opinion 
that there must have been rupture of the muscles at the first appearance 
of the swelling, and although the swelling was considerably in front of 
the flank, as pointed out by Mr. Hill, when it was lanced, still he saw no 
5 
LI1I. 
