DISEASES OF THE HEART AND ITS MEMBRANES, 667 



contract the orifices. Fibrinous exudates form on the surfaces 

 of the valves, and these, when carried away, are conveyed to the 

 lungs, if on the right side, or to the brain, kidneys, &c. when on 

 the left side, inducing embolism. Warty excrescences on the 

 valves, observed in cases of swine fever, have been supposed 

 to be the result of or associated with that disease ; but according 

 to Mr. Cope (Eeport of Board of Agriculture, 1894), out of 

 3065 hearts taken from suspected cases of swine fever, 1039 

 were found to have that disease, and out of this number 270 

 showed disease of the valves, but of these only i07 were asso- 

 ciated with swine fever. This shows that disease of the valves 

 in the pig is induced by other causes than as well as swine fever. 

 It appears that the slightest wound on the surface of the 

 valves is followed by a fatal endocarditis, said to be induced by 

 micro-organisms, which are harmless in the normal circula- 

 tory apparatus. The Stcqohylococcus aureus, Streptococcus 

 'pyogenes, and the cocci of septicoemia have induced similar 

 conditions. 



ANGINA PECTORIS. 



The condition termed angina pectoris, or breast-pang, a dis- 

 ease characterised by agonizing pain and distress in the human 

 being, undescribed, so far as I am aware, in the lower animals, is 

 a form of disease which I believe sometimes affects the horse. 

 This disease, in man, is defined as a pain or spasm referable to the 

 low^er part of the sternum, extending to the left scapula and root 

 of the neck, and manifesting itself in paroxysms of great severity. 

 I feel confident that in one horse I have seen this condition in 

 a well-defined form. The subject in question was an aged 

 cart-horse brought for my examination in the year 1873. For 

 twelve months previous the horse had done but little work, 

 owing to the fact that when he was excited by work or exercise he 

 manifested the most exquisite agony in the near (left) fore limb, 

 the muscles of which, more particularly the pectorals and those 

 of the neck, became violently convulsed, the limb itself being 

 alternately rigidly fixed by muscular contraction and powerlessly 

 paralyzed, so that the animal was quite unable to use it, and if 

 forced to move he painfully dragged the limb, or sometimes fell 

 to the ground. Whilst at rest the paroxysms seldom occurred, 



