DISEASES OF THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM. 



75 



action. Nothing can be done to remedy this state of 

 affairs ; indeed, it is not often diagnosed, but when a 

 patient liable to rheumatism has irregularity of the pulse 

 and a sharp jerky beat of the heart, also a rushing sound 

 is detectable on auscultation, this condition may be sus- 

 pected. It has further been observed that animals suffer- 

 ing in this way are liable to give a sudden shrill cry 

 and fall in an attack of syncope. Small doses of calomel 

 alternated with iodide of potassium are indicated ; quiet 

 must be enforced. But the animal is at any time liable 

 to drop down dead. 



Fatty Degeneration op the Heart is frequent in pam- 

 pered asthmatical pets. It must not be confounded with 

 fatty deposit in or upon the heart, for it is much more 



Pig. 25.— Fatty degeneration (Qttain). Fig. 26. — Fatty infiltration (Quain). 



serious, being a true degeneration of the muscular fibres 

 of the organ. There is a marked want of tone in the 

 pulse and heart's beat in these cases, and an incapacity 

 for even moderate exertion, but there are no infallibly dia- 

 gnostic symptoms ; death ensues from syncope. Post 

 mortem the heart is found to be pale, soft, and greasy on 

 section. 



Rupture oe the Heart is occasionally seen, but not so 

 frequently as in the horse and other working animals. 

 Touatt reports a case in which the animal suffered from 



