DILATATION. 211 



two quarts had flown, signs of syncope appeared. On the 

 seventh day he died. Large vesicles of air were found 

 upon the surface of the lungs, which exhibited throughout 

 '^a very light pink colour.^^ The right ventricle of the 

 heart greatly dilated; the correspondent auricle not so much. 

 The left cavities not much altered. In the abdomen a large 

 tumour was discovered, attached to the posterior and inferior 

 surface of the diaphragm, extending eighteen inches laterally, 

 five inches superiorly, and being four inches thick. It 

 proved to be composed of clots of blood. 



A brown horse, aged, belonging to Sir Watkin Wynn, 

 was found unwell after hunting, and died the following 

 morning, at 6 o^ clock. On dissection, I found nothing to 

 account for his death, save that his heart proved hyper- 

 trophied ; an aff'ection one would imagine hunters to be, 

 from the exertion they undergo, especially subject to : 

 excitement, either of body or mind, being recognised as one 

 of the chief causes of hypertrophy. 



DILATATION. 



By dilatation — which is also called aneurism of the heart 

 — is signified, increase of capacity of any one of the cavities. 

 When the parietes are attenuated, the dilatation is said to 

 be simjile; but when, although dilated, they have preserved 

 their natural thickness, it is dilatation with hypertrophy. 

 In relation to this affection, Dr. Hope says — ^^Although I 

 have seen the muscular substance healthy in every form and 

 degree of it, in general it is not so. For, when the dilata- 

 tion is great, and the parietes are feeble in proportion to 

 the quantity of blood which they have to propel, the muscle 

 is usually more or less softened and flaccid, and in some 

 cases of a deeper red, in others paler or more fawn-coloured 

 than natural. The deep-red dye is attributable to venous 

 engorgement of the muscular substance, resulting from 

 stagnation of blood within the heart. The softening is 

 sometimes so great, that the substance readily breaks up 

 under pressure of the fingers." — " Simple dilatation seldom 



