488 PULMONARY COXGESTIOX. 



texture, witlioiit tlio presence of organized or plastic and 

 organizaLle exudate, may be accepted as the condition of pul- 

 monary congestion, a state which may develop itself in any 

 animal previously healthy in less than an hour. Both sides of 

 the heart, but particularly the right with the large vessels pro- 

 ceeding to and from it, are more or less full of dark-coloured, 

 rather viscid, but not coagulated blood. 



The cases of congestion which have terminated fatally con- 

 nected with other diseased conditions — passive congestion 

 chiefly — rarely present so characteristic lesions of the hyper- 

 semic state as those which are the result of over-exertion 

 in perfectly healthy animals. The lung-tissue is in these not 

 so dark in colour, more crepitant, with a greater quantity of 

 frothy mucus in the air-tubes ; while from the state of the 

 minute bronchi in particular, we are disposed to believe that a 

 certain amount of capillary bronchitis is very often associated 

 with these attacks. 



Symptoms. — In the worst cases of pulmonary congestion, 

 such as we have referred to as common in horses put to s.evere 

 and prolonged exertion in a comparatively unprepared condi- 

 tion, the symptoms are, as a rule, extremely distressing. The 

 animal is in a state of great disturbance ; he stands with limbs 

 outstretched, neck extended, head depressed, flapping nostrils, 

 heaving flanks, trembling more or less over the whole body, 

 ■with partial perspiration rolling from him in great drops. 



These great and distressing efforts, however, are not suffi- 

 cient to stir the current of blood which moves sluggishly in 

 the heart, lungs, and great bloodvessels, the imperfect oxida- 

 tion of which induces stupor and somnolency, with livid nasal 

 membranes, cold ears and extremities. The continued pressure 

 may cause rupture of some capillaries in connection with the 

 air-passages, and we then have a discharge of frothy, blood- 

 stained mucus from the nostrils. The pulse is small and indis- 

 tinct ; although the artery feels under the finger tolerably full, 

 it may be soft and the contents compressible, while we with 

 difficulty make out the number of its feeble beats, which may 

 be as many as one hundred per minute. The superficial veins 

 are turgid, and stand out in Avell-defined form all over the head, 

 and wherever the skin is thin, the heart's action is rapid, jerk- 

 ing, disturbed, and tumultuous, but void of power. In auscul- 



