338 CASE OF DILATATION OF THE HEART, &C. 
very much accelerated; the motions of the heart were very 
feeble ; they were not perceptible until the horse moved, and then 
he tottered as he walked. On having recourse to auscultation, 
I could not distinguish any sound about the region of the heart, 
and only a slight respiratory murmur at the superior part of the 
breast; and we soon saw that there was good reason for this. 
The horse was now considerably thinner, and he only ate a few 
handfuls of hay and bran. 
It gave me much concern to find the animal in this state, and, 
without knowing precisely what organ was diseased, I sometimes 
prognosticated a serious lesion of one of the principal blood¬ 
vessels, or of the heart or the liver ; at other times I suspected 
an effusion in the chest. 
June 1 3th. —The horse appeared better; the oedema had di¬ 
minished very much; the respiratory movements were more 
prolonged : the horse fed a little better, and exercise did not 
agitate him so much. 
The 14 th and 15 ih he continued the same ; the flow of serosity 
from the wounds on the belly continued to be very abundant. 
16^/l—T he respiration was more laboured; the respiratory 
sound was only to be heard at the superior part of the chest. 
The pulse was very feeble;, the right posterior extremity began 
to be infiltrated at its inferior part: the horse ate only a very 
little bran and a few grains of oats; but he still drank with 
avidity. I advised them to give him but a small quantity of 
liquid at a time. 
\7th.~ The respiration was yet more laboured, and the serosity 
continued to flow abundantly. 
18^/l—T he horse could hardly stand ; he rested his head on 
the manger in order to support himself. 
19 th. —At six o’clock in the morning the horse fell, but I 
did not see him until noon. He was extended on his right side, 
and breathed with difficulty ; his nostrils were very much dilated. 
The pulse was scarcely perceptible, very unequal and irregular. 
The body was covered with a cold sweat; the oedema had almost 
entirely disappeared; the scarified wounds were scarcely moist. 
I attempted to make the horse rise by striking him with a whip, 
and by sustaining him by a halter and by the tail. The limbs 
gave way every moment. On again having recourse to auscul¬ 
tation, I only heard a dry whizzing rattle towards the superior 
part of both sides of the chest. The belly was fallen in, the 
flanks were hollow, and there was fluctuation in the abdominal 
cavity. 
I cauterized all the scarified wounds with an iron heated to a 
white heat. I covered the inferior parts of the chest and belly 
