154 CLINICAL VETERINARY MEDICINE AND SURGERY. 



In 1840 Bouley the younger, acting on behalf of Barthelemy, vete- 

 rinary surgeon at Paris, communicated to the Academic de Medecine a 

 case of hypertrophy of the heart, with complete ossification of the 

 right auricle, in a six-year-old horse. The animal had been bought 

 five months before, and was unable to do regular work. It did not 

 cough, but rapidly lost breath after the least work; the respiration, 

 while remaining regular, was sometimes extremely rapid, and suggested 

 dyspnoea. As it was thought that improvement would follow a rest at 

 grass, the animal was sent to a farm in the neighbourhood, where it 

 remained for two months. On returning it was put to work, but 

 found to be in nowise improved, and some time later died from pneu- 

 monia. The post-mortem examination revealed, in addition to recent 

 and old-standing pulmonary lesions, hypertrophy of the heart and 

 ossification of the right auricle, which was fixed to the pericardium by 

 fibrous bands. The capacity of the auricle was -at least doubled, and 

 its walls, thickened to the extent of one inch and a quarter to one inch 

 and a half, were completely ossified. 



In this communication Bouley refers to Renault's case, mentions a 

 case of complete ossification of one auricle seen by Barthelemy the 

 elder, in a cow affected with pulmonary tuberculosis ; and another, 

 mentioned by Riquet, of partial ossification of one of the ventricles in 

 a horse. He regards ossification of the auricles as extremely rare, 

 inasmuch as Girard and Rigot do not appear to have seen a single case 

 in the animals destroyed at Alfort for practical surgical operations and 

 anatomical purposes during a period of nearly forty years. 



In Godwing's case the horse's age is not mentioned, though we are 

 told that it several times showed serious symptoms, which were referred 

 to "disease of the liver, complicated by interference with circulation." 

 It was finally slaughtered. The post-mortem examination showed the 

 existence of fibrous pericarditis. The auricle was cartilaginous through- 

 out most of its upper part, and its anterior sections were ossified. 



Among the many horses examined after death at Alfort between 

 1848 and 1863, Colin twice found the right auricle completely ossified, 

 and twice saw tracts of bony tissue of varying size. 



The horse, whose case was reported in 1884 by Chouchou to the 

 Societe Centrale de Medecine Veterinaire, was eight years old. For 

 three years it had belonged to a firm of carriers, and had always worked 

 well, showing no sign of disease. One day, without apparent cause, 

 it appeared depressed, and had to be rested for a week. For a time it 

 seemed to recover, but soon returned to hospital with oedematous 

 swellings in different regions and marked enlargement of the hind 

 limbs, symptoms at first regarded as due to purpura hsemorrhagica 



