THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM. 211 



animal must be kept as quiet as possible^ and fed for the 

 butcber. 



Atrophy op the Heart, usually termed fatty degenera- 

 tion, must be carefully distinguished from the above- 

 mentioned deposition of fat normally in the furrows. Here 

 the muscular fibres waste, and their protoplasm is trans- 

 formed into fat. It is a disease of old age, and as such 

 is seldom, if ever, seen in the ox. To the naked eye the 

 organ is pale, with yellowish patches ; it feels soft and 

 flabby, and breaks with a granular fracture ; often the 

 visceral pericardium is depressed, here and there, through 

 diminution in size of the structure internal to it. Car- 

 ditis, pericarditis, or senile degeneration of protoplasm, 

 are causes of this condition, which predisposes to rupture 

 of the heart. 



A case of Cretaceous Degeneration is recorded in the 

 'Veterinarian,' vol. xxxv, p. 800 (1862). The pericar- 

 dium and brain were also affected in this instance. 

 Yellow calcareous spots were diffused through the heart- 

 substance. 



Under the heading '^Atrophy'' must be included those 

 cases in which the walls of the heart are thin, while the 

 cavities are dilated. This condition known as 'pouched 

 heart is frequent in the ox as in many other animals. 

 A paper on this subject is given in the ' Veterinarian,' 

 vol. XXV, pp. 60 and 105 (1852).^ On examination of 

 the organ after death the flabby clay- coloured condition 

 of its walls, which retain the impression of the finger, is 

 evident. 



Endocarditis, like inflammation of other serous mem- 

 branes, leads to thickening and roughness of the surface ; 

 these conditions are unfavorable to the passage of the 

 blood, which deposits coagula on the diseased parts. The 

 roughness of the membrane is due to cell proliferation of 

 its substance, whereby granulations are produced, which 



^ The author mentions this as a dangerous and incurable disease, incidental 

 to cows and oxen in fattening ; present in seven out of every ten animals 

 unduly fattened ; generally affecting the right side of the heart, commencing 

 at the conus arteriosus j associated with congestion of the lungs ; sometimes 

 due to over-driving. 



