206 THEORY AND PRACTICE 



POLYPI OR TUMORS OF THE HEART. 



Tumors may develop on the inside or outside of the heart. On 

 the inside they are more hkely to take the form of polypi. They 

 are usually orginated from vegetations attached to the base of 

 the valves. These polypi may become regular fibrous growths 

 such as are seen following an inflammation. They are more 

 often found upon the lining of the auricle than upon the ventricle. 

 Fragments of these vegetations often float off as emboli and 

 lodge in some other part of the body, as the brain, where they 

 produce degeneration, or coma and finally death. 



When these tumors form in the heart they can be diagnosed 

 by auscultation ; a rasping sound reveals their presence. 



Vascular tumors are frequently found on the outside of the 

 heart at the apex. Sometimes they contain hydatids. 



RUPTURE. 



Rupture of the heart may occur as the result of some previous 

 disease, such as fatty degeneration, dilatation with weakness of 

 the walls, etc. It may be caused by external violence, a crushing 

 fall, pressure from some great weight, etc. Jumping sometimes 

 causes it. 



The rupture more frequently occurs in the left ventricle, al- 

 though it may occur in the auricles. Death quickly follows a 

 rupture. 



Sometimes the heart is found congenitally misplaced. It is 

 sometimes on the right side and sometimes in the front outside of 

 the chest cavity, or in the abdomen. This condition of the heart 

 is called Ectopia Cordis. 



DISEASES OF THE BLOOD VESSELS. 



ARTERITIS. 



Inflammation of the lining of an artery is called arteritis. 

 This inflammation sometimes spreads to the media and adventitia 

 and it is hard to find what causes it. The strongylus armatus is 



