332 
J. MYERS, JR. 
membrane, thereby encroaching upon their respective caliber, 
giving rise to the above mentioned audible breathing and peculiar 
profuse excretion. 
On March 19th, 1878, Dick was suddenly attacked with colic 
pains, dependent upon an impaction of the large colon, from 
which he died. Through this event I had an occasion to make a 
post mortem examination of his lungs, which presented a healthy 
aspect, but did not recede on opening the thoracic cavity. 
Whilst visiting Dick I also had an opportunity to examine 
Tom and Bill. Tom recovered entirely from his ailment, but 
Bill was afflicted with pulmonary emphysema (heaves) in its severest 
form, rendering him utterly useless. 
I am at a loss to account for the unsatisfactory termination 
that Bill fell victim to, in other way than that the violent exer¬ 
cise he at one time was subjected to by the groom in his ardent 
effort to have the team in harness before his month expired, think- 
ing, that if he should be successful, he might retain his situation ? 
which he had already been notified to vacate. However, it is 
possible that this permanent emphysena might have set in with¬ 
out that irrational manner of treatment, for at all times he exhib¬ 
ited more serious symptoms than either of the other horses. His 
pathological lesions may have been of a more serious nature. 
There may have existed a dilatation of the bronchioles, or a paral¬ 
ysis of the same, as well as of the air cells, produced either by 
the poisonous effects of carbonic acid within the lungs, or by the 
violent effort to inspire air during the suffocating moments. He, 
being of a nervous temperament, may even have ruptured a clus¬ 
ter of air cells during a frantic state he may have been in, while 
under the immediate influence of the smoke. 
A very striking observation I experienced was the valuable 
prognostic services the thermometer furnished me. Considering 
the accelerated pulse and the alarming respiration, I might have 
been directed to express a very erroneous opinion regarding the 
final state of the patients without the aid of the thermometer, 
for which purpose as in a great many other cases it proved indis¬ 
pensable. 
