232 BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



sudden and quickl}' prove fatal unless the}- become loosened and are 

 carried awdj in the circulation; then apoplex}- may result from the 

 plugging- of arteries too small to give further transmission. If the 

 animal manifests symptoms of improvement, the changes usually are 

 slow and steady until he feels apparently as well as ever, eats Avell, and 

 moves freely in his stall or yard. When he is taken out, however, 

 the seeming strength often proves deceptive, as he may quickly weaken 

 if urged into a fast gait, the breathing becomes quickened with a dou- 

 ble flank movement as in heaves, and all the former symptoms reap- 

 pear in a modified degree. An examination at this stage may reveal 

 valvular insufRcicncy, cardiac hypertrophy, or pulmonary engorgement. 



In fatal cases of endocarditis death often occurs about the fourth 

 day, from the formation of heart clot or too great embarrassment of 

 the circulation. Endocarditis ma}- be suspected in all cases where 

 plain symptoms of cardiac affection are manifested in animals affected 

 with influenza, rheuniiitism, or any disease in which the blood may 

 convey septic matter. 



Acute endocardial inflammation ma}- be distinguished from pleuritis 

 by the absence of any friction murmur, absence of pain when the chest 

 wall is percussed, and the absence of effusion in the cavity of the chest. 

 It may be distinguished from pericarditis by the absence of the friction 

 sounds and want of an enlarged area of dullness on percussion. 



Treatment. — The objects to be attained by treatment will be to 

 remove or mitigate as much as possible the cause inducing the disease; 

 to find a medicine which will lessen the irritability of the heart with- 

 out weakening it; and, last, to maintain a free urinary secretion and 

 prevent exudation and hypertrophy. So long as there is an increase 

 of temperature, with some degree of scantiness of the urine, it may be 

 safe to believe that there is some degree of inflammatory action exist- 

 ing in the cardiac structures, and, as long as any evidence of inflamma- 

 tory action remains, however moderate in degree, there is a tendency 

 to increase or hypertrophy of the connective tissue of the heart or 

 valves, thereby rendering it almost certain that the structural changes 

 will become permanent unless counteracted by persistent treatment 

 and complete rest. 



The tincture of digitalis, in 20-drop doses, repeated every hour, is 

 perhaps the most reliable agent we know to control the irritability of 

 the heart, and this also has a decided influence upon the urinary secre- 

 tion. After the desired impression upon the heart is obtained the 

 dose may be repeated every two or three hours, or as the case may 

 demand. Tincture of strophanthus, in 2-dram doses, will quiet the 

 tumultuous action of the heart in some cases where the digitalis fails. 

 Bleeding, blistering, and stimulating applications to the chest should 

 be avoided. They serve to irritate the animal and can do no possible 

 good. Chlorate of potassa, in 2-dram doses, may be given in the 



