54 
A CASE OF ANEURISM. 
He remained in this state nearly eight minutes ; at the end of 
which time he appeared to suffer less; the flanks became less 
agitated, and the respiration calmer. We profiled by this inter- 
mittence, and raised him ; we accomplished this with difficulty, 
and with the assistance of many men. We abstracted ten pounds 
of blood, half of which was taken as he stood, the other half 
while he was lying down ; for, shortly after the stroke of the 
fleam, he fell, and could not be raised again. The blood was 
thick and black, and resembled the dregs of wine. Laxative clys¬ 
ters were now applied. In a short time the symptoms reappeared 
with greater intensity, and the animal died about eleven o’clock 
that night. 
The body was opened early on the following morning. The 
cranium and abdominal cavities presented nothing particular. 
All the contents of the chest were perfectly healthy, with the ex¬ 
ception of the heart. The pericardium was enormously distended 
by a quantity of thick and red-coloured serosity, in which clots of 
blood were swimming. The internal face of ^the bag presented 
general traces of acute inflammation: the heart was of its ordi¬ 
nary size ; the left auricle presented a longitudinal rupture, run¬ 
ning from the top to the bottom, and about two inches in length, 
and which was interrupted by a strong ridge, and thus formed 
two distinct openings. The cavity of the auricle was closed by 
an enormous clot, partly of blood and partly of fibrine. We care¬ 
fully took out all the blood contained in the cavities of the heart: 
it was then that we distinctly perceived, in comparing the two 
auricles, that the right presented an aneurism or dilatation to almost 
double its ordinary size; the wall was become so thin, that the 
perforated part formed a species of membrane scarcely the thick¬ 
ness of paper. The inspection of the other cavities of the heart 
presented nothing extraordinary. 
It is very evident that the aneurism of the right auricle had 
existed a long time in this animal before he came under our care ; 
but that which is not so easy to decide is, whether the rupture of 
this aneurism had taken place before this epoch, or whether it 
was the consequence of the frequent fails the animal had after his 
entrance into the infirmary. We confess we do not know what to 
say on this subject. 
Recueil de Med. Vet., Sept. 1831. 
