PALPITATION OF THE HEAET. 357 



taken. All other functions were regular, and the animals 

 recovered within eight days. 



Leblanc says that he could add the histories of at 

 least twenty cases similar to those above recorded. He 

 says that his observations authorize him to state that 

 the symptoms are not due to organic lesion, although 

 he never had an opportunity of performing a post- 

 mortem examination in such a case. The animals all reco- 

 vered. He is nevertheless disposed to believe that the 

 remarkable abdominal pulsations, in the absence of any vio- 

 lent heart-beats, might depend on something more than mere 

 nervousness, and due, perhaps, to a temporary obstacle to 

 the circulation in the posterior aorta. It is difficult to under- 

 stand that a simple nervous phenomenon should last eight 

 days or more, with equal intensity during the whole time. 

 The palpitations, which occur suddenly as the result of active 

 emotions, especially in the dog, are ephemeral. 



Many veterinarians have been alarmed at the symptoms. 

 They appear suddenly, and disappear with as little warning, 

 and usually all other functions remain undisturbed, if we ex- 

 cept the respiratory act, slightly modified from its intimate 

 connection with the circulation. Levrat and others have 

 noticed that the peculiar sounds were apparently not rythmic, 

 with arterial pulsation, but the number was constantly the 

 same, whenever any careful observations were recorded. It 

 is not a little remarkable that similar cases have not been 

 observed in cattle. Leblanc has witnessed them in the 

 dog. 



Treatment. Rest, and a mild aperient, at the same time 

 avoiding any cause of excitement to the animal, is attended 

 with a disappearance of the symptoms. Digitalis is the re- 

 medy recommended as a specific in all such cases. It is 

 given .in doses from 10 to 30 grains daily to the horse, for 



