41 6 Veterinary Medicine. 



The nature of these murmurs differs in special instances. 

 They may resemble the soft whisper of the words who or awe, of 

 the double letter jj, or the single letter r, according as they are 

 soft or hard and purring. 



The pericardial murmur, caused by the rubbing of the dry 

 roughened surface of the serous membrane covering the heart on 

 the correspondingly dry rough surface of the same membrane, re- 

 flected on the investing sac, resembles that caused by passing the 

 palm of the one hand softly over the other which lies on the ear. 



It is distinguished from the friction sound of pleurisy by its coin- 

 ciding with the movements of the heart and not with those of res- 

 piration. It is usually heard alike during the sounds of the heart 

 and during the period of silence or in other words during the 

 movement of contraction and dilatation in that organ. 



General Symptoms of Heart Disease. In the acute inflam- 

 matory affections there are the signs of general constitutional dis- 

 turbance attending similar affections in other organs. The 

 decision as to the true nature of the disease must be arrived at 

 from the special character of the pulse, heart sounds, etc., as 

 already noticed. 



In the chronic forms of the disease however a particular class 

 of symptoms usually point towards the organ affected. In cattle, 

 sheep and pigs raised only for slaughter, and as far as possible 

 protected against active exertion, serious heart diseases may exist 

 for a length of time without making themselves manifest by any 

 prominent symptom. Thus in cows, pins and other sharp pointed 

 bodies swallowed with the food, frequently make their way to the 

 heart, and lodge for a length of time in its vicinity without material 

 derangement, and when at last the animal dies a sudden death, 

 they are found transfixing the walls of that organ. In the horse 

 or other animal subjected to exertion, the symptoms are usually 

 very patent. 



When the heart is enlarged, the pulse strong and the circula- 

 tion full and free, apoplexies or hemorrhages especially on the 

 brain or other soft organs where, the resistance is least, are liable 

 to occur. When on the other hand the circulation is weak from 

 atrophy or fatty degeneration of the heart, or from insufi&ciency 

 of the valves there is a tendency to coldness of the extremities, 

 and to passive congestions with their consequences : — serous effu- 



