PERICARDITIS. 389 



the plastic exudation is generally much less, the tendency to 

 pour out fluid much greater. 



" In the course of pericarditis we must be prepared for the 

 occurrence of pleurisy, and in inflammation of the pleura for 

 its attacking the pericardium. When the friction occurs in 

 the immediate vicinity of the heart, it may be difficult to say 

 by which membrane the sound is produced; because even 

 when the breath is held, the impulse of the heart may cause 

 pleuritic friction." 



The causes, some of the symptoms, and the post-mortem 

 lesions of pericarditis are well shown in the following ac- 

 count of a case of chronic pericarditis in a colt. It was 

 communicated by Mr Barrell of Keynsham, to the Veterinary 

 Record, in 1848. Writing on the 17th November, 1847, 

 Mr Barrell says : " Being this morning called to see a filly 

 affected with ' surfeit/ my attention was directed to a colt 

 then lying dead in the yard. On making some inquiries 

 respecting it, the coachman informed me that he died sud- 

 denly on the previous evening. The history of the case was 

 given by him as follows: 



" The co-It was eighteen months old, thorough bred, and 

 castrated last spring. He had been kept in a loose box on 

 corn from the time of weaning till the last week in August, 

 when both he and the filly were turned into a meadow, which 

 was in a cold damp situation, and the grass rather scanty; 

 consequently they became greatly impoverished. There they 

 were allowed to remain till last week, when they were found, 

 to use my informant's own words, ' breaking out from head 

 to foot, and hide-bound.' On this account they were housed, 

 and pretty liberally dieted; the owner considering that this 

 change of living would make them all right again. The colt 

 fed well, and not the least illness was observed up to the 

 time of his death, except a slight swelling of the belly and 



