454 
A CASK OF CARDITIS. 
On exposing the heart, we found that the pericardiac sac was quite 
filled with fluid, gorged almost to bursting, and a surprising quan- 
tity escaped when it was cut into. I am sorry it was not collected, 
so 1 will not guess at the quantity the sac contained, but it was 
ver y great. The heart had lost its colour ; it was quite pale and 
very soft, clear of abrasion and separation of the fibres towards 
the apex. The blood in the heart was ropy, and adhering to the 
valves. In the left ventricle there was one dark streak of in- 
flammation, with here and there a black spot. The softness of 
the heart, its wasting away, if 1 might so term it, and the dropsy 
attendant, are the considerations in this case that were most im- 
pressed on me. 
I have, I know, but indifferently reported this disease, yet 
the main facts are truly stated. You will select such as you think 
worthy of the veterinary journal. Every fatal case ought to re- 
ceive its proper examination, and any information offered thereon 
by practitioners I know will be thankfully received when rightly 
and freely conveyed. 
There are one or two features in this case to which I would 
wish to call your attention : first, ought I to have tried bleed- 
ing again, without regard to a second fainting? At the first see- 
ing this pony, I entertained no hope of recovery ; but it was my 
duty to do what I could. I really fancied the patient was dying 
when it fainted and fetched its breath so violently. Is it not 
very remarkable that the pony should live so long, its heart pro- 
bably never beating less than 100 pulsations per minute? Was 
my giving sedative medicine objectionable? — if so, in what way 
could I treat the pain in the bowels? for I am certain there was 
much uneasiness felt there. 
I see I have omitted to state that the pony had another free pur- 
gation on the first day. This pony was never observed to ail any 
thing whatever until the moment of its entering the stable after 
walking exercise. It was, like many old ponies, delicately nice 
about taking water or soft food during medicine, and had under 
this physic eaten very little indeed. How are we to account for 
this sudden irritability of the heart ? The pony had previously been 
a remarkably healthy one — it undoubtedly was very fat. I re- 
member, when I was residing with you, a grey horse surviving an 
attack of carditis under your treatment. It was the powerful 
bleeding you practised which subdued the inflammation. 
I do not clearly see that the physic had much to do in this case ; 
if so, please to hint that it had not. The other ponies took no 
harm. The sedative medicine was given in small quantities about 
every three hours during the two first days, with no intermission in 
the heart’s action, that is, when I saw him ; and 1 did so three or 
