CHAPTER VI. 

 DISEASES OF THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM. 



PHYSICAL EXAMINATION OF THE HEART 

 AND PERICARDIUM. 



Diseases of the heart and pericardium, though of rare 

 occurrence in the horse as compared with man, are never- 

 theless of great importance, and are by no means of 

 unfrequent occurrence. In examining the heart, the 

 methods of inspection, palpation and auscultation are 

 adopted, as in the detection of diseases of the respiratory 

 organs. 



In the horse the heart is not so accessible for examin- 

 ation as in man, and in consequence ' of the ponderous 

 shoulder closing in upon the keel-shaped thorax we are 

 not able to distinguish the heart-sounds at different parts, 

 and to determine the space filled by the organ, however 

 large it may be ' (Gamgee). 



Thus the difficulties to be encountered in the detection 

 of changes in the heart of the horse are far greater than in 

 man. 



We may firstly determine, in an examination of the 

 heart, the nature of the impulse, and secondly the cha- 

 racter of the sounds heard on listening over the cardiac 

 area. 



