FOREIGN BODIES INJURING THE HEART. 403 



orbits, and there were constant uneasy attempts to raise the 

 fore-part of the body. The body generally was cold, the 

 mucous membranes infiltrated, and the dependent parts of the 

 body cedernatous. There was great weakness, loss of appetite, 

 considerable hoven, imperceptible pulse, short and feeble but 

 stertorous respiration, and loss of sensibility. The animal 

 died the same day in slight convulsions. 



The post-mortem examination made immediately after 

 death exhibited the intestines distended with gas of an odour 

 like that of the eructations. Their internal coat and contents 

 were of a dull leaden colour, while in the small intestines was 

 likewise met a chocolate-coloured liquor formed of blood 

 mixed with intestinal juice. The ab omasum contained a 

 similar fluid mixed with alimentary matters. The reticulum 

 and omasum contained about 2 J Ibs. of clotted blood, of a 

 deep brown colour, and which showed no signs of having 

 undergone any digestive change. None of the abdominal 

 viscera, save the reticulum, showed any morbid lesion. In 

 the midst of the curvature of the last viscus was a round 

 yellowish patch, with an oblong orifice towards its centre of 

 l-5th of an inch in its longest diameter. This orifice was 

 closed by a clot of blood. The yellow patch seemed to be 

 from a softening and thickening of the mucous membrane. 

 Around this patch the reticulum had become adherent to the 

 diaphragm. The opening was found continuous with a 

 canal, penetrating the diaphragm, pleura, mediastinum, and 

 wall of the left auricle. The walls of this canal were com- 

 posed of organised lymph, and the duct itself formed a direct 

 communication between the cavity of the left auricle and that 

 of the reticulum. The canal, which was somewhat flexuous, 

 was capable of admitting a large-sized goose-quill, though at 

 three separate points it was dilated to double that size. The 

 pericardium was all more or less injected, but towards the 



