472 



DISEASES OF THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM. 



of their tendons, these membranes having in these cases lost their 

 normal mobility. In the course of chronic endocarditis they some- 

 times become contracted and undergo an atrophy which may go as 

 far as the almost complete disappearance of their apparatus ; at 

 times the contraction of their chordae tendinese does not permit of 

 complete unfolding, and at the time of their tension we find between 

 their convergent edges an opening through which the blood flows. 



Contraction of the orifices is produced either by the thickening of 

 the valves or by the partial joining of their edges, or, again, by 

 vegetations of the endocardium. We may find the orifices con- 

 tracted by polypous, warty, cauliflower-shaped neoformations, etc., 

 which are developed on the valvular lumina; sometimes they are 

 almost entirely filled*with neoplasmic masses. The loose edge of 

 the valve is tumefied and spongy, or thickened, or, again, incrusted 

 with calcareous salts ; in other instances, being joined toward their 

 extremities, they form narrow cartilaginous or bony rings, through 

 which the blood is driven with violence. 



These alterations are generally added to endocarditis, and they 

 are often found associated (combined valvular aflections); cases of 

 simple insufficiency or of idiopathic contraction are very rare. The 

 abnormal bruits they produce w^ill be described further (see symp- 

 toms of particular valvular affections, page 475). As to the second- 

 ary morbid phenomena produced by circulatory troubles, the princi- 

 pal are : hypertrophy and dilatation of the heart ; hyperemia of the 

 liver, brown induration of the lung, obstruction of kidneys and 

 spleen ; general dropsy, ascites, hydrothorax, hydro-pericarditis, 

 anasarca, emaciation, hemorrhages, etc. 



Affected animals. Valvular diseases are mostly observed in 

 the dog and horse; they are also quite common in the ox, perhaps 

 on account of the acute articular rheumatism in this species ; they 

 are also found in the pig (Daudt), etc.,^ and in birds.^ In man, the 



1 Under the name of" chronic pseudo-rouget" (swine plague) Bang has mentioned 

 a case of warty endocarditis observed in an eighteen-months'-old sow. The principal 

 symptoms were the following : bluish- red coloration of the ears, belly, and legs, which 

 spread to the larger part of the body ; the rectal temperature was 40.4° C, the respira- 

 tion was accelerated and noisy, the heart was depressed, and there was, so to speak, a 

 permanent decubitus. The animal did not touch any liquids and took but a little fresh 

 grass which it kept in the mouth, like a horse when said to be smoking his pipe. At 

 the autopsy, besides abundant dropsies in the great splanchnic cavities, the mitral 

 valve was found uneven, rugous, warty, and so thickened that it obstructed almost 

 entirely the aurico-ventricular orifice. — n. d t. 



3 Dr. Larcher : Eecueil Vet., 1874. 



