ANEURISM OF THE AORTA. 221 



my own observation, together with some others, of which 

 there are several to be found scattered through the pages of 

 The Veterinarian. 



The first I shall notice is a dried preparation belong- 

 ing to my father^s museum, at Woolwich, a very fine 

 specimen of aneurism of the thoracic aorta. In shape, and 

 indeed in magnitude, it may well be compared to a gourd of 

 ordinary growth. Through the bottom of the aneurismal 

 sac are two large circular apertures, where, evidently, it had 

 burst into the cavity of the chest. In several places the sac 

 is much attenuated, and appears — as far as one can judge in 

 its dried state — to have been in an ulcerated condition at 

 the time of death. Whether the sac is formed of the 

 dilated or augmented coats of the vessel, or is composed of 

 adventitious coatings, it seems impossible, correctly, to deter- 

 mine: its appearance most favours the latter supposition. 

 No other history attaches to the preparation than that " it 

 was brought from the slaughter-house.^' 



Mr. Field has in his museum in London a preparation of 

 the same kind as the one described above, and in most 

 respects very similar to it. 



Mr. Bowles, V.S., Blanavon, in 1841, sent Mr. Morton, 

 of the Royal Veterinary College, a specimen of ossified 

 aneurism of the posterior aorta, a little anterior to the first 

 lumbar vertebra, taken from a mare that died of ruptured 

 spleen. 



Herr Bohling (or Rohling), from four cases he relates of 

 aneurism, comes to the following conclusions : — Aneurism of 

 the large arteries, in any of the cavities, particularly the 

 aorta or mesenteric, may be ascertained by certain signs, 

 through which a sure diagnosis may be established. The 

 surest of these signs is the pulsation of the parts. Besides 

 this pulsation, there is another symptom equally of im- 

 portance, which is the slow pulse; or, as sometimes happens, 

 an intermittent pulse. All we can add to this is, that, in our 

 opinion, it little augments our knowledge of the mysterious 

 existence of aneurism of the aorta or mesenteric arteries. 



The following cases occur in the foreign journals: 



