REPORTS OF CASES 
309 
I omitted to state that for the first fifteen days he was not 
moved at all, but given walking exercise daily after, until his dis¬ 
missal. I saw him yesterday and he trots fairly, bending the knee 
and without lameness, though he lias not entire freedom of loco¬ 
motion. The swelling has not quite disappeared, but it is trifling 
considering the nature of the injury, and the time. Hoping I have 
not omitted anything important, 
Respectfully yours, 
L. Y. Plaoeman, M.R.C.Y.S. 
RUPTURES OF THE STOMACH AND OF THE DIAPHRAGM. 
By C. H. Stocker, D.V.S., Salem, Mass. 
Was called some time since to see a horse suffering from colic. 
Diagnosis at once, ruptured stomach. From a peculiarity in 
breathing I was led to listen at the chest, and could detect in¬ 
spiration perfectly, but the expiratory murmur was nearly absent , 
from which condition (taking into consideration the more import¬ 
ant lesion) I diagnosed also a ruptured diaphragm. An autopsy 
revealed the stomach ruptured through its long extent, the food, 
etc., having passed into the abdominal cavity. Also, a rupture of 
the diaphragfn some fourteen inches in extent, all but about four 
or five inches of which was a fresh rupture, while the other I 
judged to have been in existence some two or three weeks. A 
history of the case proved it to have been produced some five 
weeks before, the animal having had more or less constitutional 
disturbance since that time (fell down hill). Question—Is the 
diaphragm so important a factor in respiration that its rupture 
precludes so sudden or full expulsion of air as to render its pas¬ 
sage inaudible while listening at the thoracic walls ? If so, is not 
auscultation an adjunct in diagnosis in many cases where we have 
abdominal disturbance, (often in the same animal) which disturb¬ 
ance ma} r pass away in a few hours only to recur again, and 
finally a post mortem reveals the diaphragmatic lesion which had 
evidently existed for quite a period, but through which a large 
amount of intestine may not have passed till the final sickness? 
