262 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY. 



as glanders, the veterinary art may keep a horse in a con- 

 dition to be ridden or driven at considerable speed without 

 knocking him up, but not so with diseased lungs. 



It is not to be wondered at, that so many horses are 

 afflicted with lung complaints, most of them resulting from 

 carelessness. The poor animals are too often over-heated, 

 and afterwards put into cold stables in a state of profuse 

 perspiration, and allowed to dry. This should never be the 

 case. The animal ought to be instantly rubbed down, until 

 his coat is quite dry. If this is not attended to, inflamma- 

 tion of the lungs and a host of other complaints may be 

 the consequence. 



THE HEART. 



The heart is enclosed within a membrane or bag, called 

 the pericardium, plate ix. fig. 1, c, and both together occupy 

 the middle space of the cavity of the chest. The pericar- 

 dium contains within it and throws out a pale yellow serous 

 fluid, which serves to lubricate the contiguous surfaces of 

 the sac, and to preserve them against any ill consequences 

 arising from friction. 



The use of the pericardium is to confine the heart in its 

 situation, to sustain it in its reciprocal action with the 

 lungs, and guarding it from any undue collision, and to 

 serve as a guard to the heart. When the pericardium or 

 the heart becomes inflamed, an undue secretion of this fluid 

 is induced, sometimes to such an extent as to obstruct the 

 beating of the heart. When such is the case, the animal 

 is said to have dropsy of the heart. Its symptoms are very 

 similar to inflammation of the lungs, and consequently it is 

 difficult to detect which of the two maladies the animal 

 labours under. 



The heart itself, fig. 1, 6, is the organ by which the blood 



