A CASE OF ENDOCARDITIS. 
261 
23rf. — The horse is continually down. The pain and the lame- 
ness have entirely disappeared, but the respiration is difficult and 
laborious — the movements of the flanks are accelerated and in- 
creased — a sound is emitted from the bronchial tubes — the re- 
spiratory murmur is detected over the whole of the chest, and 
percussion yields a strong reverberation. The beatings of the 
heart are violent, but no extraordinary sound is to be detected 
in the cardiac region. The pulse was full and accelerated, and 
I abstracted eight pounds of blood. 
The blood was of a vivid red ; it coagulated in six or seven 
minutes, and presented scarcely any thing but a yellow albumin- 
ous clot. Suspecting that I had to do with inflammation of the 
pericardium, 1 applied a large blister on each side of the chest. 
25th . — All the symptoms have increased in intensity. The 
beatings of the flanks resemble those of a broken-winded horse — 
the pulsations of the heart are violent and precipitate — the pulse 
is weaker — and the general prostration of strength is extreme. 
During the night of the 25th, the horse continued to utter the 
most fearful groans and cries. They were continued through part 
of the following day, the difficulty of breathing continuing to 
increase, until he died in violent struggles about six o’clock in 
the evening. 
A post-mortem examination took place at eight o’clock on the 
following morning. 
The lungs were discoloured, and their volume was consider- 
able ; they did not sink when thrown into water, but crepitated 
when pressed upon with the hand. The interlobular cellular 
tissue was infiltrated with air. The pericardium did not pre- 
sent any thing remarkable. 
The heart was more voluminous than in its natural state, and 
the right ventricle was particularly distended and flabby. The 
cavity of that ventricle presented, 1st, a minute injection of 
capillary vessels over the internal membrane of the heart, espe- 
cially on a level with the valves : this injection was also ob- 
servable in the corresponding auricle. 2d, Numerous small 
ecchymoses, and particularly in the cellular tissue beneath the 
internal membrane of the right cavities : these ecchymoses were 
exceedingly red, but did not extend into the muscular tissue. 
3d, A voluminous cylindrical clot, of considerable consistence, 
and of a yellow red colour, prolonging itself into the pulmonary 
artery and its larger divisions, but without adhering to the walls 
of these vessels. 
This clot strongly resembled a tree provided with numerous 
roots and branches. At its base it adhered firmly to the surface 
