200 DISEASES or THE HEART. 



was attached around " by carno-Ugamentous^^ substances. 

 One part of its exterior was " of a lardaceous fatty 

 character /^ another, " glandular ;" and another, " carci- 

 nomatous.'^ It contained three gallons of '' brown serous 

 fluid, resembling, in fetor and colour, human excrement 

 dissolved," &c. !^ 



Pericarditis may assume either the acute or chronic type. 

 It may exist as an idiopathic affection ; but in most cases it 

 will be found to be secondary — consecutive on pleuritic 

 inflammation. That it may, at least in a chronic form, 

 commence by itself, and run its course alone, is in some 

 measure proved by the cases of hydrops pericardii which 

 every now and then present themselves unaccompanied by 

 disease of other parts. 



The SYMPTOMS of pericarditis, as an idiopathic or isolated 

 disease, I am afraid we must, with D'Arboval, admit "have 

 not yet been determined on.'' And he adds, " It cannot be 

 distinguished from carditis, which is uniformly fatal." Even 

 in man, with all the advantages surgeons possess in being 

 orally informed of the pains and feelings of their patients, 

 the diagnosis of pericarditis has always been considered 

 extremely difficult and doubtful. " Dry cough ; hurried 

 respiration ; palpitation of the heart, the impulse of which 

 is sometimes violent, bounding, and regular, though its 

 beats may, at the same time, be unequal in strength ; at 

 other times it is feeble, fluttering, and irregular; pulse 

 always frequent, and generally, at the onset, full, hard, 

 jerking, and often with a thrill." Such are the symptoms, 

 applicable to the cases of horses, which Dr. Hope gives as 

 characteristic in man ; and such, probably, it will be wise 

 in us to set before us in practice until, from actual observa- 

 tion on our own part, we shall be in a situation either to 

 reject, alter, or confirm them. 



Mr. Pritchard, V.S., Wolverhampton, with laudable 

 zeal for the promotion of our art, so long ago as the year 

 1833, furnished The Veterinarian with some practical 

 communications on this subject, which we shall find it ad- 



' ' A'etciinariaii,' vol, xiv, p. 436. 



