548 THE PRACTICE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. 



CHAPTER XXX. 



Cardiac Diseases. 



PERICARDITIS. 



Pericarditis, or inflammation of the pericardium, occurs 

 in all animals, but is most frequently met with amongst 

 cattle. It may be caused by injury, and in such cases 

 is described as traumatic pericarditis ; or it may arise 

 from ordinary causes. Traumatic pericarditis is noticed 

 oftener among cattle than other animals. Pericarditis 

 often occurs as a complication of rheumatism, influenza, 

 pleurisy, and other debilitating diseases ; rheumatism 

 being a common cause of the disease in the human 

 family. It may also be associated with chronic disease of 

 any organ in the body. After inflammation of the peri- 

 cardium, a certain amount of eff'usion takes place into the 

 pericardial sac, constituting a condition known as hydrops 

 pericardii, or dropsy of the pericardium. There is also a 

 great tendency to the formation of false membranes on the 

 pericardium, and they have been found in some cases half 

 an inch in thickness. 



Symiytoms. — The pulse is hard and irritable, is easily 

 excited by the slightest movement, and is sometimes of an 

 intermittent character. The respirations are irregular, bil^ 

 on the whole are quickened. The symptoms may very 

 easily be mistaken for those of pleurisy ; and, as before 

 stated, pleurisy may co-exist with pericarditis. The eyes of 

 the patient appear unnaturally bright ; auscultation reveals, 

 usually, an increase in the number of heart-beats, as well 

 as a change in their character ; the mouth is hotter than 

 usual ; the ears and legs are alternately hot and cold, and 

 all the general indications of pyrexia are present; the 

 bowels and appetite are irregular, and when hydrops 



