376 



PERICARDITIS. 



latter variety, -which is by far the most frequent in animals of the 

 bovine species, need be described. 



EXUDATIVE PERICARDITIS DUE TO FOREIGN BODIES. 



This condition has been erroneously described as traumatic peri- 

 carditis, but the latter term ^vould suggest that the disease was due 

 to an injury acting from without. It may be defined as a disease pro- 

 duced by the discharge into the peri- 

 cardial cavity of some foreign body 

 from the gastric compartments. 



Boizy in 1858 described several 

 cases of this kind of pericarditis. 

 Hamon in 1866 gave an excellent 

 table of symjjtoms. Eoy in 1875 

 supplemented this with numerous ob- 

 servations showing clearly the pos- 

 sibility of recognising the disease by 

 clinical examination. Pericarditis due 

 to foreign bodies is to-day one of the 

 best characterised diseases of the ox, 

 and it is easy to diagnose. 



Before approaching the etiological 

 side of the question, it is necessary to 

 recall in a few words the anatomical 

 arrangement of the pericardium and 

 its relations to neighbouring organs. 



In the ox the diaphragm pre- 

 sents a marked concavity directed to- 

 wards the abdomen. The pericardium, 

 situated exactly in the median plane, is fixed by its point to the sternum. 

 A fold of adipose tissue directly connects it with the anterior surface of 

 the diaphragm. On the abdominal side the conical right compartment 

 of the rumen is in free communication with the reticulum, which is 

 closely applied to the posterior surface of the diaphragm on the median 

 line opposite the spot occupied by the pericardium on the anterior sur- 

 face (Fig. 176). As a result of this arrangement any object passing 

 through the reticulum and diaphragm in the median plane would enter 

 the i^ericardial cavity. These particulars indicate clearly how this form 

 of pericarditis is produced. 



Causation. One of the chief causes of pericarditis by a foreign body 

 is connected with the way in which oxen feed. They rapidly swallow their 

 food and any foreign bodies that may be concealed in it, submitting 

 it later on to a second mastication in the course of rumination. This 



Fig. 174. — Tumours of the surface of 

 the heart. Primary cancerous peri- 

 carditis and myocarditis. 



