138 VETERINARY HOMCEOPATHY. 



symptom that suggests its selection for the human subject, namely, 

 a feeling " as if the heart zvere grasped and compressed zuith an iron 

 hand;''' as a horse cannot explain by word of mouth that such a 

 symptom is experienced it is hardly possible to avail of it; at the 

 same time, if there is reason to suspect heart disease and the ani- 

 mal suddenly assumes a rigid posture, and, as it were, holds itself 

 in one position for a few seconds, or even minutes, it would be a 

 fair assumption that some such feeling as that indicated was ex- 

 perienced, and by inference one would be certainly justified in 

 administering Cactus grand, in the hope of furnishing relief. 



Among the diseases which affect the vital organ are pericarditis, 

 or inflammation of the fine serous membrane which invests or 

 clothes the heart, and dropsy of this membrane, but as both are 

 exceedingly rare, we shall pass on to hypertrophy, or dilatation of 

 the heart, which is doubtless of more frequent occurrence in the 

 horse. 



ENI.ARGEMENT OR DII^ATATION OF THE HEART. 



By this designation we mean that the walls of the heart are 

 increased in thickness and the cavities of the organ are proportion- 

 ally larger; at the same time while we intend dealing with this 

 particular form of alteration in structure, we must explain in 

 passing that it is possible for the walls of the heart to be thick- 

 ened without any corresponding increase in the size of the cavi- 

 ties; and at the same time for the cavities of the heart to be con- 

 siderably increased in calibre without any alteration of bulk in the 

 muscular walls; hypertrophy with dilatation is more frequently 

 observed in horses and therefore we select this form of structural 

 change for treatment. 



It is also necessary to observe in passing that all the compart- 

 ments of the heart are not equally susceptible of this structural 

 alteration, indeed it is only fair to state that the left ventricle is 

 more often affected than either of the other three divisions of the 

 organ; a fact that is due possibly to the strain put upon this com- 

 partment in driving on the main volume of blood over the general 

 system; and so long as the thickening of the walls of the heart 

 keep pace with the dilatation or enlargement of the cavities, the 

 impairment of function will not be so observable; it is when the 

 size of the cavities is out of proportion with the thickness of the 



