General Diseases. 367 
of cerebral artery may cause hemiplegia and softening of | 
portion of the brain; of renal artery albuminuria. Capil- 
lary embolism plays an important part in pyzemia and 
other conditions. Septic particles absorbed from a focus 
of unhealthy suppuration lodge in the capillaries of distant 
parts, and there set up secondary inflammation and 
abscesses.” 
On the 6th of June, 1883, a pointer dog, aged nine 
years, the property of R. C. Kettle, Esq., barrister, was 
brought to my infirmary, presenting the following symp- 
toms: Deep and laboured breathing, pulse small and 
wavering, abdomen distended, and prominence over the 
hepatic region. I diagnosed the case as one of ascites, 
associated with enlargement of the liver and lung disease 
of old standing. The pulse indicated some valvular mischief 
in the heart. The patient was placed under treatment, and 
it was proposed, when prepared, to tap the abdomen. On 
the 16th, during my absence, Mr. Kettle took the dog 
away, wishing me to treat him at home ; death, however, 
as I had prognosticated, if moved, took place soon after he 
reached his kennel, and, by request, I made a fost-mortem 
examination the following morning. 
The abdomen contained over a gallon of clear straw- 
coloured fluid. The liver was enlarged and congested, 
weighed four pounds and one ounce, and contained large 
deposits of medullary cancer. The valves of the heart were 
hypertrophied. The lungs were tuberculosed, and eshibited 
traces of past inflammation. 
The immediate cause of death was embolism of the pos- 
terior vena cava. From the right auricle of the heart, and 
in a considerable portion of its passage through the liver, this 
vessel had become entirely blocked by a long fibro-cartila- 
ginous granular chain-like plug, not unlike the hard roe of 
a fish magnified. Near to the liver this plug was purely 
calcareous, and could only be chipped out. A portion of 
the fibro-cartilaginous granular embolus which existed in 
