l82 



heart, as well as those of the breathing. I have met with cases said to 

 have been " broken-winded," when, on examination, heart disease was 

 found to cause the difficulty in breathing. 



438. Acute cases of diseases of the heart, and its covering — the 

 pericardium — are frequently associated with severe attacks of 

 pneiunoiiia, pleuyisy, inflnenza, pink-eye, vlieumatic affections, &>c, Here the 

 covering of the heart becomes intensely inflamed, producing fibrinous 

 deposits, and effusion of water into the chest and pericardial sac 

 (hydrops pericardii J. These cases are so complicated, and so rapid, 

 that they require early and judicious treatment, as they are frequently 

 fatal. A horse — particularly a stallion — fed up for sale on too much 

 starchy matter, such as boiled wheat, potatoes, &c., and having little 

 or no work to do is subject to sudden general congestive febrile attacks, 

 affecting the whole system, when, from the hurried circulation, 

 fibrinous strings form round the tendinous cords in the ventricles, and 

 accumulate so fast that the animal dies from stoppage of the heart's 

 action by this ante-mortem clot of yellow fibrinous, fatty-looking material 

 blocking up the passages through the heart and the large vessels. 



439. In the old farrier days, when bleeding was so much run upon, 

 these cases were bled four or five times in twenty-four hours. This 

 repeated bleeding tended to increase the fibrinous matters in the blood, 

 so that instead of relieving the animal, the operators only assisted in 

 killing it, and on post-mortem the verdict was that it had died from 

 grease at the heart. These cases require prompt treatment. If bled 

 at all, it should only be once, and at the very first. The animal 

 ought to be kept quiet, and given plenty of ammoniated nitrate water 

 to drink (sec Appendix). 



440. The Cow, as already noted, suffers more from heart diseases 

 than the horse, owing to foreign bodies passing through the walls of 

 the stomach to the heart. The animal may go on feeding and doing 

 well, without the slightest symptom of anything being amiss, until 

 one day it is found dead — post-mortem examination revealing the cause 

 to be a needle, wire, or some such bod}' (of which I have quite a 



