26 
ON DISEASES OE THE HEART. 
mysteiy to them. Tlie practitioner is applied to for information 
and assistance : here a knowledge of the characteristic symptoms 
is tridy valuable, in order to preserve the veterinary surgeon 
from falling into that error so detrimental to professional estima¬ 
tion, viz., of holding out to his employer expectations of recovery 
in a decidedly irrecoverable case. 
It is not ray intention here to give a laboured account of the 
symptoms of these several diseases, but to relate corresponding 
cases. As the best mode of illustration, the first is that of 
Hypertrophy of the Heart. 
The subject of this case was a three-parts-bred six-year-old 
mare, about fifteen hands one inch high, of a tolerably good make 
and shape, in fair working condition, employed in the posting 
establishment of Mr. R. E., of this town, in the month of Fe¬ 
bruary, 1827. I was called to her assistance on the 24th. Her 
pulse was 68, hard, w ith sufficient dilatation of the submaxillary 
artery ; respiration laborious; membranes of the eye and nostril 
vascular, but not so much so as to betoken any considerable de¬ 
gree of inflammatory action : the surface of the body and extre¬ 
mities warm, and she was partially off her feeding. On inquiiy, 
I ascertained that her respiration had been perceptibly laborious 
for a fortnight, but had much increased during the last evening 
and night. She w'as placed in a loose box;-bled five quarts; 
and nauseating doses of aloes were given every six hours, until the 
faeces became pultaceous. She had oatmeal gruel to drink, in 
small quantities, every hour ; flannel rollers w ere applied to the 
legs, and the clothing increased. 
Second day .—Pulse 70; artery less dilated ; respiration more 
laborious ; body and extremities quite warm ; membranes of the 
eye and nostril, if any thing, less vascular than yesterday; the 
blood flows freely through the jugulars. Again bled four quarts ; 
• the medicine as before, but in diminished doses. 
Thij'd daj /.—The whole symptoms as yesterday, except that 
the conjunctiva and pituitary membrane were much less vascular, 
and the bowels were gently moved. The bleeding repeated ; the 
aloes discontinued ; one drachm of emetic tartar and half an ounce 
of nitre given at the same intervals. 
Fourth day .—Pulse 74, hard ; the artery less dilated ; diffi¬ 
cult respiration, amounting to orthopnoea. The extremities and 
body quite warm, and the jugulars distended with blood. The 
membranes of the eye and nostril in colour much as in health. 
I opened the jugular, and the blood flowed in a copious stream 
until about four quarts had been drawn, wdien, the flow diminish¬ 
ing, I pinned her up. This did not produce any change either 
