368 CASE OF ABNORMAL PALPITATION OF THE HEART. 
covered by brown spots, which by degrees die away. There re- 
mains no trace of the disease, except a few superficial cicatrices, 
on which the hair does not grow. 
[To be continued.] 
A CASE OF ABNORMAL PALPITATION OF THE 
HEART. 
By M. Pastey, Delivrande. 
In the night of November the 19th, 1836, I was desired to 
visit a colt, thirty months old, and in very fine condition. He 
had been attacked in the morning with violent colic, from having 
eaten a great quantity of oats that had been given him by mis- 
take ; and for the cure of the illness produced by this an empiric 
that was sent for had ordered walking exercise, injections, and 
emollient drinks. 
The affection, far from yielding to the treatment, good or bad, of 
our cyclops, had augmented to such a degree of intensity, that 
the proprietor was perfectly frightened, and sent for me. 
On my arrival, I found the animal in a great state of suffering, 
which he evinced by abandoning himself to the most violent 
struggles, whether he was standing or lying down. His body was 
covered with perspiration, which rose from him in the form of a 
dense cloud — the abdomen was enormously distended, and was 
at once elastic on pressure and little sonorous on percussion — 
the mouth was hot and dry— the bowels confined — the respira- 
tion dreadfully laborious — the conjunctival and other mucous 
membranes highly injected — the pupils dilated — the forehead 
particularly hot — the limbs very cold — the pulse quick, and yet 
sufficiently developed — a retrograde movement, or venous pulse 
of the blood in the jugulars. 
On pressing the youth that had the care of these animals, he 
acknowledged that the colt was always greedy for oats, and that 
he had given him five or six times more than his usual allowance. 
After obtaining this intelligence, I immediately prescribed an 
ounce of ether in water, and repeated it after an hour, giving 
saline and soapy injections, with dry friction on the carcass, and 
irritating embrocations on the legs, alternating this with walking 
exercise. 
Two doses of the ether had been given, but the disease con- 
tinued to increase. The horse, whose stomach still remained 
gorged with oats, refused obstinately to swallow any great quan- 
tity of fluid. This, in conjunction with the volatilization of the 
ether, occasioned a considerable inflation of the abdomen, which 
