Note 100 — Chapter IX · OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE DEATH OF THE LUNGS, OVER THE GENERAL DEATH OF THE BODY.
F. Gold translation
When the diaphragm is ruptured, a sudden cessation of the functions is not always the result of this accident. Patients have been known to survive many days, and the cause of death has only been ascertained by examining the body.
The intercostal muscles are, in this case, the sole agents of respiration, which becomes nearly analogous to that of birds or to that of animals with red and cold blood, who are destitute of the septum between the thorax and abdomen.[101]
Lieutaud cites various ruptures of the diaphragm, produced by other causes than external injuries. Diemerbroech has seen this muscle wanting in an infant who still lived to the age of seven years.