FOREIGN BODIES INJURING THE HEART. 405 



conjunctiva pale and infiltrated; cold extremities, and dry 

 muzzle. Kespiration deep, laboured, and heavy, but very 

 frequent; expiration most painful and interrupted, like in a 

 horse with broken wind; no cough; pulse accelerated, small 

 and feeble; jugulars full, with venous pulse; appetite lost, and 

 frequent eructations of gas. 



Percussion shows the superior parts of the chest to be 

 resonant, the inferior dull. Auscultation indicates strong 

 respiratory murmur in the superior half of the chest and 

 almost none inferiorly; the noise of the heart being, however, 

 very distinct. The first sound, as in the normal state, corres- 

 ponds to the arterial pulse, but is more dead and precipitate 

 than in health, the last sound is marked by a rushing noise, 

 which also encroaches on the first sound, commencing pre- 

 viously to the end of the systole ; this sound is compared to 

 the plunging of butter in a churn. 



Diagnosis. A foreign body in the pericardium. 



As the owner would not consent to destroy the animal, M. 

 Boizy saw it again on the eighteenth day, when he found the 

 substernal oedema greatly increased, but that in the inter- 

 maxillary space diminished. Breathing more laboured; 

 sounds of the heart very faint, the rushing sound only show- 

 ing itself at intervals three or four times during the day, at 

 which times the beats of the heart could be heard at some 

 distance from the animal A rattling sound, however, was 

 heard on a level with the base of the heart, and during 

 inspiration, apparently from a considerable effusion into the 

 pleural cavity. 



Next day the animal was down, but rose easily; she was 

 constantly changing her posture. Breathing was becoming 

 more and more difficult, the head greatly extended to favour 

 it; the oedema was much diminished, a great deal of serosity 

 having flowed from scarifications made the day previous : the 



