382 PERVIOUS FORAMEN OVALE CYANOSIS. 



reared up and then fell ; from this position he could not 

 move, neither could he stand when lifted on his legs. I 

 found him lying on left side, apparently free from pain, pre- 

 senting the following symptoms : respiration very quick, but 

 not laborious ; pulse 55, and weak; visible mucous mem- 

 branes pallid, especially the buccal. Presently expression of 

 eye became haggard, breathing rather laborious, pulse more 

 frequent and feeble. He was killed about an hour after the 

 accident, at the entreaty of an officer of the Animals' Friend 

 Society. P.m.., abdominal viscera healthy; pericardium rup- 

 tured on right side, contained a quantity of coagulated 

 blood ; a clot of blood affixed to base of right auricle, which 

 was here separated from the ventricle; the muscular struc- 

 ture was evidently ruptured to the extent of almost an inch. 

 Ribs and investing muscles uninjured.' " 



CONGENITAL MALFORMATIONS OF THE HEART. 

 ECTOPIA CORDIS. 



Thi condition is one observed chiefly in calves, and the 

 most common form consists in the heart being situated out- 

 side the chest, and communicating simply by the large ves- 

 sels which attach it with the interior of the body. The 

 fissure through which the vessels thus communicate with the 

 heart is in the sternum. Professor Hering has published in- 

 teresting cases of this description, and made important obser- 

 vations on the heart's action under such favourable oppor- 

 tunities. The displacement may consist in the heart being 

 pushed up at the root of the neck, or, lastly, in the organ 

 descending on the abdomen. All the animals in which it 

 has been observed have died within a short time after birth. 



A malformation of the pericardium and walls of the chest 

 occasionally brings the heart in view though in its natural 

 cavity. Such a condition has been witnessed in man as well 



