PERICARDITIS IN CATTLE. 
641 
she fed pretty well, I was not requested to prescribe for her. 
She had given milk freely all the summer, but had 
not appeared so lively as she ought to be. She seemed as 
well as usual on the evening of the 3d of September. On 
the morning of the 4th, her quantity of milk was diminished. 
On examination, I found her cold and wet from the rain of 
the previous night ; standing “ all of a heap head depressed 
and ears pendulous; mouth and nose cold; breathing tran- 
quil ; the bowels costive; pulse 100, very feeble but regular ; 
the mucous membranes slightly tinged yellow. Aiiscultation 
failed to detect the sounds of the hearty and the palpitation was 
absent . I pronounced the case to be one of pericarditis, 
and that exudation had taken place to some extent ; also 
that congestion of the liver existed ; this being secondary, and 
owing to the feebleness of the circulation. 
The treatment consisted in the administration of purga- 
tives and stimulants. Counter-irritants were also applied to 
the sides, and as the case advanced, tonics were given. But 
nothing seemed to affect the pulse : it remained feeble 
throughout, and it was only a few days before death that 
irregularity was detected. 
On Friday, Sept. 18th, diarrhoea set in; and on the 21st, 
cedematous swellings appeared in different parts of the body, 
but more especially on the dewlap and fore parts. 
On the 23d, she dropped down and died without a struggle. 
All throughout this animal exhibited the same watchful 
state as observed in Case 1, and the appetite was very 
capricious indeed. One day she would feed pretty well, then 
again she would not touch anything for days. The bowels 
were very irregular, and, on account of rumination being 
suspended, the food passed through her in a half masticated 
state. 
The post-mortem) four hours after death, revealed general 
anaemia of the subcutaneous and muscular tissues, these being 
seemingly in a broken-down condition. The blood in the veins 
was pale and thin. The abomasum, small intestines, and 
liver, were congested ; but even here the blood was of the 
same watery character as in other parts. The gall- 
bladder w T as distended with thin lemon-coloured bile. The 
thoracic cavity contained rather a large amount of clear 
serum. The pericardium was distended by a layer of 
lymph, about two inches in thickness, glueing together its tw r o 
surfaces, and containing, near the apex of the heart, nearly 
a pint of dirty w 7 hey-coloured fluid, of a fetid odour. The 
lymph w T as easily removed from the heart, and between it 
and the muscular tissue of the organ, w T as a layer of cartila- 
xxx. 85 " 
