DISEASES OF CATTLE 119 



1st) by work, exercise, fright, or any cause of excitement, or, in gen- 

 eral, by anything that causes acceleration of the pulse. 



The impulse of the heart may be felt and the sounds may be 

 heard fairly well in lean cattle, but in fat ones it is difficult and often 

 impossible to detect either impulse or sound with any degree of 

 satisfaction. 



Palpitation. When the impulse of the heart is excessive that is, 

 when it beats more or less tumultuously the familiar expression 

 "palpitation of the heart" is applied; and by many it is called 

 "thumps." The hand or ear placed against the chest easily detects 

 the unnatural beating. In some cases it is so violent that the motion 

 may be seen at a distance. Palpitation is but a symptom, and in 

 many instances not connected with disease of the structure of the 

 heart or its membranes. An animal badly frightened may have pal- 

 pitation. When it comes on suddenly and soon passes away, it de- 

 pends on some cause other than disease of the heart; but when it is 

 gradually manifested, and becomes constant, although more pro- 

 nounced at one time than another, heart disease may be suspected, 

 especially if other symptoms of heart disease are present. 



Injury to the Heart by Foreign Bodies. Oattle are addicted to 

 the habit of chewing and swallowing many objects not intended as 

 articles of food. Every veterinarian of experience has met with in- 

 stances to remind him of this, and it is well known to butchers. 

 Among the great variety of things that have thus found their way 

 into the stomachs of cattle the following have been noticed : Finger 

 rings, knitting needles, old shoes, table knives, wood, pieces of 

 leather, pieces of wire, buttons, hairpins, brushes, nails, coins, etc. 

 The more sharply pointed objects sometimes penetrate the wall of 

 the stomach, during which they may or may not cause enough irri- 

 tation of the stomach to produce indigestion, gradually work their 

 way through the diaphragm toward the heart, pierce the pericar- 

 dium (bag inclosing the heart), wound the heart, and prove fatal 

 to the animal. Cases are recorded in which the foreign body has 

 actually worked its way into one of the cavities of the heart. How- 

 ever, instances are known in which the object took a different 

 course, and finally w r orked its way toward the surface and was ex- 

 tracted from the wall of the chest. While it is possible that the 

 object may pierce the wall at different parts of the alimentary canal, 

 as it frequently does that of the rumen (paunch), it is thought that 

 in the great majority of cases it passes through the wall of the reticu- 

 lum (smaller honeycombed compartment, or second stomach) and 

 is drawn toward the heart by the suction-like action of the chest. 

 Post-mortem examinations have demonstrated the course it pursued, 

 as adhesions and other results of the inflammation it caused were 

 plainly to be seen. All manner of symptoms may precede those 

 showing involvement of the heart, depending upon the location of 

 the foreign body and the extent of inflammation caused by it. Severe 

 indigestion may occur; stiffness and difficulty in moving about, due 

 to the prods of the sharp body following muscular contraction ; pain 

 on pressure over the front, lower, and right sides of the abdomen; 



