OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. ' 31 



Death due to interruption of the heart's action is called syn- 

 cope, and there are two kinds : 



1. Sudden — sthenic. 



2. Slozv — asthenic. 



Sthenic syncope (sudden heart failure) is purely func- 

 tional. The nerves propelling the heart lose their irritability 

 and the heart ceases to beat. In this condition there is no morbid 

 anatomy, no premonitory symptoms of death. The heart stops 

 beating suddenl3\ 



In the asthenic form there is morbid anatomy and there are 

 premonitory symptoms of imminent death. The horse will have 

 repeated attacks of dangerous heart failure, indicating valvular 

 msufficiency, or aneurism of the aorta, etc. 



Sthenic syncope occurs in two forms : 



1. Paralysis of the motor nerves of the 



heart, in which condition the heart is 

 large, soft, and in a few hours after 

 death will be full of a black post- 

 mortem clot. 



2. Tonic spasm, in which condition the 



heart is small, hard and empty, i. e., 

 when the animal is posted. The rea- 

 son for this is that the heart contract- 

 ed and failed to relax. If the animal 

 had died during diastole, the heart 

 would be large, soft and full; but 

 during systole, death finds it small 

 hard and empty. This condition of 

 the heart is seen in death from tetan- 

 us, in which there are tonic spasms 

 of the whole body. 

 Sthenic syncope always occurs as the result of shock. This 

 may happen during an operation, or as the result of a kick or 

 some severe violence to the solar plexus. Shock is the condi- 

 tion caused by any violent disturbance of the nervous system. 



Syncope may be caused by hemorrhage, and this is either 

 external or internal. If the carotid artery, the jugular vein, 

 or the femoral or brachial artery be severed, it takes no time for 



