144 DISEASE OF THE HEART. 
the life, thus afflicted and thus dangerous. The horse may appear 
blooming, may even he skittish; yet, the existence shall at any moment 
be cut short. Auscultation affords the surest means of detection. Place 
the ear close to the left side and lower part of the chest; if any unusual 
sound be audible, conclude the heart to be diseased. 
The signs visible, externally, are sometimes sufficiently emphatic to 
admit of no doubt. The eye is expressive of constant anguish; the 
countenance is haggard; the pulse is feeble and irregular, but the heart 
throbs; its throbs are visible, and frequently they are to be seen as 
plainly on the right side as on the left. The beat is occasionally so 
violent as to shake the body. The carotid artery can be felt to pulsate 
in the neck. The regurgitation, within the jugular vein, is nearly always 
excessive,—it often reaches almost to the jaw. It takes place by jerks, 
which ascend high and higher, each becoming less and more weak, as it 
mounts upward. 
An attempt to represent this has been hazarded in the illustration. 
It is, however, impossible to truthfully depict action; and the reader 
will comprehend the jerks, in nature, do not occur all at the same period; 
but the first subsides before the second can be exhibited. 
The appetite is sometimes ravenous; more often it is fastidious. The 
breathing is not accelerated, excepting during the existence of pain; 
lameness is occasionally witnessed in one fore leg; dropsical swellings 
and abdominal pains have been observed. The animal, when progress- 
ing, will suddenly stop, tremble, and appear about to fall; as suddenly, 
it will recover and proceed upon the journey. Noises, expressive of 
acute anguish, are, under the impulse of the moment, occasionally uttered. 
Sometimes the horse cannot be made to move, and it is always averse to 
turn in the stall. Often it is seen to yawn; but more frequently has 
been known to heave long and deep-drawn sighs. No ascertained sign, 
however, announces the climax of the disorder to be near at hand. 
Death is always unexpected, and, therefore, is a surprise. 
The cause of heart disease is unknown. It may, however, be surmised 
from the fact that it is most common in gentlemen’s stables, and is all 
but engrossed by the animals which have for years been subjected to the 
abuses therein practiced. It is incurable; and ail physic is thrown away 
upon this disorder. 
