PERICAEDIT1S. 387 



have, in several instances, succeeded in diagnosing the pre- 

 sence of pericarditis in the horse, and proving the correctness 

 of my diagnosis by post-mortem examination. The symp- 

 toms are general and local The general symptoms consist 

 in severe irritative fever, with a frequent, wiry, and often 

 irregular pulse. The animal stands with. a sunken head and 

 peculiarly anxious expression, indicative of considerable suf- 

 fering; the eyes are fixed, nostrils dilated, breathing is 

 laboured, and, indeed, the dyspnoea is regarded by Delafond 

 as one of the characteristic symptoms, being attended by an 

 action of the flank not unlike that of broken wind, and with 

 a deep depression along the margin of the costal cartilages. 

 Pressure on the left side, and smart percussion, induces pain 

 in the early stages. The limbs are cold, and often having a 

 tendency to become cedematous ; effusions may occur in other 

 parts, such as within the pleura, beneath the chest, in the 

 sheath, &c. The animal wastes rapidly, and indicates a ten- 

 dency to speedy dissolution. 



The local symptoms, so far as they can be traced, are 

 similar to those observed in man. Pricti on-sound is often 

 unmistakeably heard, and Delafond has referred to the faci- 

 lity with which it may be often detected, and that it coincides, 

 in the majority of instances, with the first sound of the heart. 

 Leblanc says the friction-sounds must be distinguished from 

 those due to pleural disease, and this can readily be done 

 from their concomitance in the latter case with the respiratory 

 movements. Leblanc also notices the dulness detected by 

 percussion over the cardiac region. If we compare what 

 Delafond, Leblanc, and others have said on the diagnosis of 

 pericarditis in the lower animals, with that written on the 

 subject by human physicians, we cannot fail to notice the 

 closest similarity. Dr Barclay says : " If, on examination 

 of the heart, pericardial friction be made out, there can be 



