General Diseases. 365 



playing one day with another dog, she fell and expired im- 

 mediately. 



"The post-mortem examination was made two hour^ 

 after death. The cavity of the pericardium contained a 

 red clot of blood, which enveloped the whole of the heart ; 

 it was thicker in the parts that corresponded with the. valve 

 of the heart ; and on the left ventricle, and near the base 

 of the left valve of the heart, as well as the external part 

 of that viscus, was an irregular rent two inches long. It 

 crossed the valve of the heart, which was very thin in this 

 place. The, size of the heart was very small, considering 

 the height and bulk of the dog. The walls of the ventricles, 

 and particularly of the left ventricle, were very thick. The 

 cavity of the left ventricle was very small ; there was 

 evidently a concentric hypertrophy of these ventricles; 

 the valve of the heart was of great size. 



" The immediate cause of the rupture of the valve of the 

 heart had evidently been a!n increase of circulation, brought 

 on by an increase of exercise ; but the remote cause con- 

 sisted in the remarkable thinness of the valve of the heart. 



"This case is remarkable in more than one respect: 

 first, because instances of rupture of the valve of the heart 

 are very rare ; and, secondly, because this rupture had its 

 seat in the left valve of the heart, while usually, in both 

 the human being and the quadruped, it takes place in the 

 right, and this without doubt because the walls and the 

 valves of the right side are thinner."* 



PERICARDITIS. 



Inflammation of the pericardium of heart sac is a disease, 

 comparatively speaking, not very frequently seen, or, at all 

 events, diagnosed in the canine species." 



Pericarditis, when not the result of direct injury from 

 crushing or penetrating wounds, is )'=ually associated 

 with acute rheumatism, pleurisy, or pysemia. 



* Youatton "The Dog." 



