HYPERTROPHY OF THE HEART. 
135 
marked signs of fatigue ; and when removed and taken home, 
he vomited at the stable door. Since that time nothing un¬ 
usual has been observed in him, and he is now performing 
general farm-work. There are no symptoms of pain on 
pressure, but there is a little evidence of impatience after 
drinking freely. The local condition of the throat appears 
to be very much the same as when I first saw the horse, al¬ 
though his general health has much improved, and the 
constitutional evidence of sympathy is almost gone. It 
appears to me very probable that the opening from the oeso¬ 
phagus into the sac will now be permanent. This opinion, 
I may add, is shared by Dr. Elam, Mr. Henry Jackson, and 
Mr. W. F. Favell, all of whom have seen the horse with me 
to-dav. 
Should any change worth recording take place, I will take 
care to inform you of it. 
HYPERTROPHY OF THE HEART OF A HORSE. 
By Clement Stephenson, M.R.C.V.S., Newcastle-upon- 
Tyne. 
In the early part of December, I860, I was requested by 
Mr. Eden, of Gateshead, to see a large gray cart-horse. On 
my arrival, I found him utterly unable to undergo the 
slightest exertion, and was informed that he had fallen twice 
while attempting to work during the morning. The pulse 
was about 100, and imperceptible at the submaxillary artery. 
There was likewise considerable effusion into the subcuta¬ 
neous cellular tissue beneath the chest and abdomen, and 
also that of the legs. 
In forming a diagnosis, I was induced to think that the 
heart was the seat of the disease, but could not satisfactorily 
make up my mind as to its nature, or the change that might 
have taken place in the organ. 
The horse lingered on for a few T days, when it was thought 
advisable to have him destroyed. I made a post-mortem exa¬ 
mination, and found the heart enormously increased in size, 
and weighing as much as thirty-two pounds. I consider it 
to have been a case of true hypertrophy, every part of the 
organ being enlarged, without any other change of structure, 
either in the muscular or valvular portions of the organ. 
The anterior vena cava was much dilated, but the other 
large vessels, unfortunately, I did not examine. 
