76 THE DISEASES OF THE DOG. 



valvular disease, as denoted by the symptoms already 

 described and verified post mortem, and died suddenly 

 from a giving way of tbe wall of the left ventricle. The 

 rent was some two inches in length, and at the base of 

 the ventricle where the walls were thin. There was evi- 

 dently concentric hypertrophy of the cavities. Youatt 

 calls attention to this case as remarkable because the left 

 ventricle had given way, whereas in man and most quad- 

 rupeds the right is the one which generally is ruptured. 

 A mild excitement, playing with another dog, was the 

 immediate cause of death. This indicates the necessity 

 for the avoidance of unnecessary excitement, whether from 

 exercise or emotion, when we suspect heart disease. A 

 nutritious laxative diet and small doses of tonics may 

 assist in prolonging the animal's life in cases of heart dis- 

 ease, but unless he is a " pet " or pensioner it is not 

 advisable to keep him as a valetudinarian. 



Diseases op the Pericardium generally result from 

 those of the pleura. An accumulation of serum in the 

 sac sometimes occurs, and may be suspected when the 

 heart's beat is very feeble and the sounds obscured. Gene- 

 rally the animal dies suddenly. But disorders of the 

 pericardium are rare in the dog. Delafond records a 

 successful case of punctured wound of the pericardium, and 

 walls of the chest. 



Bjimatozoa, Canine. — In 1878 Dr. Patrick Manson 

 contributed to the 'Chinese Customs Gazette 5 (vide 

 ' Veterinary Journal,' vol. vi) a most interesting article 

 on Chinese HEematozoa. He describes two forms, Filaria 

 immitis (v. Canis cordis) and F. sanguinolenta. 



Filaria immitis, a familiar cause of sudden death among 

 English dogs imported into China, is commonly known 

 as "worm in the heart." It is estimated that two out 

 of every three dogs in China are hosts of this parasite, as 

 may be determined by microscopical examination of a few 

 drops of blood from a living animal. The embryo worms 

 will be seen moving freely in a serpentine manner. These 

 cause apparently no inconvenience to the host, but the 

 parent worms " are found coiled up in the right ventricle 



