HYDRO-PERICARDIUM. 561 



ought not to be made to remove the fluid by puncturing the 

 pericardial sac. 



II. Hydro-Pericardium — Dropsy of the Pericardium. 



The state of pericardial dropsy, although it may follow as a 

 result of a mild pericarditis, is usually dependent on other 

 causes for its existence, being in most instances a distinct 

 part of general dropsy. 



Its anatomical characters are somewhat different from those 

 of inflammatory action. The fluid contained in the sac is 

 purely serous, there being no fibrinous organizations or ad- 

 hesions. 



Rarely during Ufe are there any symptoms indicative of the 

 state, excepting those connected with the general disease to 

 which it owes its origin. 



As the condition during life is merely one of supposition, 

 and only determined by an after-death examination, treatment 

 of it can only be entertained as part of that which is applic- 

 able to the general disturbance of which it forms part, or on 

 which it is dependent for its existence. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



acute cardiac inflammations. 



I. Acute Endocarditis with Valvulitis. 



Definition. — Inflammation of the serous membrane, the endo- 

 cardium, lining the cavities and covering the valves of the 

 heart. 



Pathology, a. Nature and Causation. — Inflammation of 

 this internal serous Uning of the heart, although we may con- 

 ceive of its existence as an independent and primary condi- 

 tion, is yet rarely presented to us in the horse, or probably 

 any animal, apart from an appearance in some contiguous or 

 analogous structure, or association with some general or con- 

 stitutional disease, or some septic state of the blood. 



It has by many been stated to be a condition more fre- 



36 



