136 
HYPERTROPHY OF THE HEART. 
I had known the horse for a long time, and he was always 
said to be a bad worker, which, I have no doubt, was refer¬ 
able to the state of his heart. 
11EMAHKS ON THE ABOVE, BY ASSlSTANT-PBOEESSOli 
VABNELL. 
Valuable as the above fact may be, it would, nevertheless, 
have been more so, and that in several points of view, had 
Mr. Stephenson kindly furnished us with a detailed account 
of the peculiarities of the morbid specimen, which would 
have rendered the record of the case both more perfect and 
more interesting. 
It has its worth, nevertheless, since its importance sug¬ 
gests inquiry and excites thought. 
The above brief account, with that of another case—to me 
a very valuable one, although of a different nature—came into 
my hands embodied in a friendly letter, and I have reason to 
think it was not at first intended for .the pages of the Veteri¬ 
narian ; but being aware that Mr. Stephenson is pleased to 
contribute to that Journal every information he possesses, I 
wrote to him for leave to publish it. This request was 
readily granted, with the privilege also of dealing with it as I 
thought proper. This reply induces me to offer a few 
remarks and suggestions on both cases. 
Mr. Stephenson does not inform us if the heart was of its 
natural deep-red colour , or—as is sometimes the case—although 
increased in size, whether it was pale and flabby . The former 
appearance is much more frequent, and, like a muscle that has 
been fully used, firm and springy to the feel. Neither are 
we told whether the liyperiroplious state of the organ involved 
the w alls of all the cavities, or if it was confined to a part of 
the heart only. Neither do we learn from the unfortunately 
brief description, whether the capacity of the aiiricles or ven¬ 
tricles was diminished or increased. 
Simple hypertrophy seems to be the most common 
form of this affection, in which the relative capacities of the 
cavities to each other is retained, although their walls may 
be very much thickened. Such, 1 should judge, was the 
case in this instance; at any rate, I am induced to think so 
because, had it been otherwise, it would have been noticed 
by Mr. Stephenson, and doubtlessly he would have men¬ 
tioned the circumstance. The uniformity of the increased 
size of the organ, and the unaltered capacity of the ventricles 
