76 
HYPERTROPHY. 
very cold, pulse scarcely perceptible, lips pendulous, coun- 
tenance extremely haggard and desponding, but the breathing 
not much disturbed. He died in the course of a very few 
hours after my visit. 
From the state of the blood, as well as from the fact of the 
horse having been the subject of melanotic tumours for some 
years in the coccygeal region, although they apparently did 
not in any way inconvenience him by their presence, I felt 
confident that the post-mortem examination would reveal 
similar deposits situated internally, and in this instance 
“ coming events cast their shadows before them , 55 for they 
were discovered of various sizes in the abdominal cavity, 
implicating the mesentery, and mesenteric glands, liver, 
spleen, and kidneys. In the pelvic cavity also, there was 
a large tumour. Upon cutting into one, it presented a 
brownish black appearance, and communicated a brown stain 
to the fingers. Upon the removal of the viscera from the 
abdominal cavity, a bunch, as it were, of these pigment- 
ous deposits was found. Each tumour being about the 
size of a nutmeg, surrounding, and closely adhering to 
the posterior vena cava, and posterior aorta, in their course 
along the spine, contracting the diameter of the former to 
about that of an ordinary-sized goosequill, the latter being 
also rendered all but impervious at one particular spot. 
Venous congestion was exhibited almost throughout the 
whole of the viscera. The diaphragm also was remarkably 
thickened in its muscular walls. It was carefully removed, and 
the lungs and heart next examined. The former were quite 
healthy, and of their normal pale-pink hue ; the heart, how- 
ever, was enlarged, and upon making a longitudinal section 
through the wall of the left ventricle, it was found to be 
just double its natural thickness, and the cavity so nearly 
obliterated as only just to admit the end of one’s finger. 
The thickening was confined to the muscular tissue of the 
organ, and had not extended beyond the left ventricle. The 
blood in the right auricle was, as might have been antici- 
pated from the venous congestion existing throughout the 
system, much darker than it is commonly found under o ther 
circumstances. 
The substance of the walls of the heart gave no indication 
of inflammation, and the pericardium also appeared to be 
healthy. 
The intestines were inflamed throughout. The stomach 
was very much distended with undigested “ chenna 55 * and the 
* The grain used in this part of India for feeding horses, it somewhat 
resembles our English pea. 
