ON THE DISEASES OF THE HEART. 
81 
this mare considerable, and extended up the neck even to the 
head. The respiration w^as tranquil, and not quicker than in 
health; the pituitary and conjunctival membranes were a little 
flushed ; under the belly was a slight collection of fluid in the 
cellular membrane, and the hind legs were a little cedematous. 
She remained in the field much in this state until the beginning 
of August, when a mild diarrhoea came on, and continued during 
a few days, and she died. 
Post-mortem Examination .—I first examined the brain, but 
could not detect any morbid appearance in this organ. I next 
proceeded to the thorax. On opening this cavity, by rais¬ 
ing the sternum and carefully detaching the pericardiac attach¬ 
ment, the heart and its sac were brought into view. The peri¬ 
cardium was rather thinner than usual, and capacious, contain¬ 
ing a proper portion of healthy liquor. On slitting open the sac, 
the heart appeared unusually large and flabby ; the cellular 
substance around its base was considerably elevated by effusion 
of lymph ; the right auricle was very much enlarged, being 
three times the size of the left, and its walls thin; the right 
ventricle was dilated, but not at all in proportion with the auri¬ 
cle : the left auricle was not dilated, but the left ventricle was 
much enlarged, and its walls, especially at the extreme of the 
apex, so thin that I felt a little astonished that it could have 
contracted without rupture, for it was not more than one-eighth 
of an inch thick. The heart weighed ten pounds, and measured 
in circumference at the base, two feet seven inches. The lungs 
were in good health, free from engorgement and oedema. 
Abdomen .—The mucous coat of the stomach was considera¬ 
bly reddened and vascular, as was that of the duodenum, jeju¬ 
num, and ileum, excepting a foot’s length of the latter intestine 
prior to its termination in the caput coli. The whole internal 
surfaces of the coecum and colon were much inflamed; and so 
loaded were their mucous membranes with serous engorgement, 
as to resemble a lobulated continuous mass of daidc-coloured 
jelly. The muscular and peritoneal tunics of the small and 
large intestines were quite healthy. 
I now come to the absorbents of the bowels, and I wish I 
could give you an exact picture of them as they appeared to me 
in situ. The absorbents of the small intestines were generally 
collapsed; but those of the large intestines, the colon and coe¬ 
cum especially, were prodigiously distended whth lymph of a 
reddish yellow colour, until they arrived within sixteen or eighteen 
inches of the receptaculum chyli, where it became nearly all 
blood. The circumference of each trunk, near its termination, 
was not less than three inches ; the whole forming a most beau- 
