428 DISEASE OF HEART AND DISCHARGE OF NOSTRIL. 
On placing the ear to the chest, when he was quietly at 
rest in the stable, a good deal of moist rattling could be heard 
from the air bubbling through the mucus in the bronchial 
tubes, but it was evident that the chief mischief was cardiac ; 
for, besides the action of the heart being accelerated and 
irregular, and the impulse greatly increased, a very distinct 
musical blowing sound was heard, very like the cooing of a 
dove. This sound invariably took the place of the short, 
sharp, second, or diastolic sound, and at the same time the 
jugulars were filled as before described, though not in so 
marked a degree as just after exercise. 
Remarks . — The interest of this case not only consists in its 
reference to pathology, but also in its relation to veterinary 
jurisprudence ; for soon after the horse was bought he was 
observed to have a cough, accompanied by an enormous 
discharge of purulent-looking matter from the nostrils ; and 
this, together with his “lean and hungry look,” at once sug- 
gested to the purchaser the idea of pre-existing glanders , and 
indeed to give an opinion on this subject I was first consulted. 
I came to the conclusion that it certainly was not glanders ; 
but then arose a further question, — “Did the disease exist 
before purchase ?” This, I was not at first prepared to answer, 
for from all I could ascertain the discharge from the 
nostril did not appear till a certain time after purchase, and 
bronchitis may have supervened in the interim. Now, how- 
ever, I have but little doubt about the matter, having drawn 
the following deductions from careful observation of the then 
existing symptoms, viz., that valvular disease of the heart 
had existed for some time, and as soon as the animal was 
subjected to active exercise the lungs became highly en- 
gorged, from the great check to the circulation, and the 
direct result was a profuse secretion from the bronchial 
membrane. The principal causes of my arriving at such a 
conclusion were, the very irregular and accelerated action of 
the heart, with increased impulse, and above all the peculiarly 
distinct abnormal sound which took the place of the second 
sound of the heart. The sequence of causes of such symptoms 
will be found very clearly explained in Watson’s c Practice of 
Physic/ and in all works on auscultation. In the case 
before us they would appear to stand thus : — At the moment 
the peculiar cooing sound is heard, the currents of blood 
should be flowing from the auricles into the ventricles, and 
at the same moment the pulmonary and aortic valves should 
close and prevent the return of blood from the large vessels 
into the ventricles. Now, it is the sudden closure of these 
valves that is believed chiefly to give rise to the short, sharp, 
