304 
A. DRINKWATER. 
REPORT OF CASES. 
-w- 
PUNCTURED WOUND OF THE CHEST—DEATH. 
To the Editor of the Veterinary Review : 
Sir : I was called, on the morning of September 7, to see a very fine 
young mare, the property of Mr. Briggs, seedsman, of this city, which 
had received what proved to be a fatal injury. The animal was being 
driven by Mr. Briggs , on passing over a small culvert, the animal broke 
through, and made a plunge forward, but recovered herself almost at 
once. Mr. Briggs, fearing she might be injured, got out and examined 
her; the night being dark, he lit several matches, but only found a slight 
injury to the knee, not thinking that at all serious; got into his buggy 
and drove home, a distance of three miles, and says his mare came along 
as lively as ever; on arriving home she was unhitched as usual; on 
raising her foot to step into the stable, she was noticed to show pain by 
moaning ; a light was brought, and a close examination made, and it 
was soon found that the poor mare was very seriously injured. A large 
wound was found in the pectoral muscles between the sternum and arm 
of the right fore leg. Becoming alarmed at this, Dr. Tegg was sent for; 
he made an examination of the wound, but found nothing in it ; he 
stitched and dressed the wound, but before leaving her for the night, he 
was looking her over, and just behind the elbow he found a hard ridge 
like a man’s arm; he concluded there was some foreign body there; on 
making an incision through the skin and muscles, he found a large piece 
of plank; on being measured, it was found to be twenty inches long, 
three inches wide at the large end. After removing the stick, the open¬ 
ing was closed, and a bandage put on to keep the air out, Dr. Tegg 
gave his opinion that she could not live. I was called in the following 
morning. I found her standing, but was in great agony and appeared 
to be sinking fast. 1 he whole right side was completely filled with air, 
and on being tapped with the fingers sounded almost like a drum. I 
told the owner she could not live, but he was anxious I should do some- 
thing. I ordered her to get port wine every hour, which revived her 
for a time, but death closed the scene about nine o’clock in the evening, 
just twenty-four hours after the accident. 
Dr. Tegg and myself held a post-mortem the following morning, 
and found that the stick had entered the pectoral muscles, passed up- 
