THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM. 213 



Sequelm. — Portions of the valvular clots separating from 

 tlieir attachments may pass into the general blood stream, 

 and, becoming fixed in the smaller vessels, give rise to 

 embolic disease. Pneumonia may thus result. 



Prognosis of this serious disorder can seldom prove 

 favorable. In acute cases death may occur at any moment. 

 In chronic cases recovery cannot be expected. Often, 

 however, where the inflammation is circumscribed, endo- 

 cardial growths and fibrinous deposits result in large 

 '' cardiac polypi, '' which seem sometimes to completely 

 block up the cavity. 



Pericarditis. — Inflammation of the pericardium seldom 

 exists as a disease per se, being a complication of rheu- 

 matism and other blood diseases, or the result of penetra- 

 tion of the membrane by a foreign body which has been 

 swallowed, and found its way from the reticulum. Again, 

 in pleuritis and pleuro-pneumonia, this membrane seldom 

 escapes invasion by the disease. The traumatic form is 

 rather frequent. The foreign body which gives rise to it 

 is generally a knitting-needle, hair-pin, or nail, which has 

 accidentally gained entry into the stomach with the food, 

 or been ingested by the animal under the influence of 

 depraved appetite. Why such bodies pass into the reti- 

 culum in particular it is difficult to say, but in almost 

 every case the foreign body has started from this viscus. 

 Probably it is only those which start from here which give 

 rise to appreciable mischief, or these foreign bodies may 

 be brought by the rumen to the oesophageal groove for 

 regurgitation, and on being rejected they fall into the 

 reticulum. Pressure of the diaphragm leads the sharp 

 body to puncture its structure after penetrating the wall 

 of the stomach, and thus to enter the pericardial sac 

 (we have a case on record in which it penetrated the 

 pleura, and escaped by abscess in an intercostal space), 

 which is just anteriorly placed to the reticulum, separated 

 from it only by the diaphragm. Perhaps the contractions 

 of the heart exert a suction influence. This organ becomes 

 penetrated, and thus the body enters generally, it seems, 

 the left auricle. Gamgee mentions an interesting case by 



