HYPERTROPHY OF THE HEART. 137 
and auricles, induced mv friend to think it necessary to 
allude only to its increased magnitude. 
The profession will feel indebted to Mr. Stephenson for the 
history and some of the most prominent symptoms observed 
bv him in this case. The fact that the horse had been for a 
%/ 
long time bad worker ; v his inability, for a short period 
before his death, to do any work at all; his want of power to 
rise when in a recumbent position ; his increased pulse, but 
imperceptible at the submaxillary artery, and the extensive 
effusion alluded to, are all symptoms worth taking notice of; 
for we must acknowledge that veterinary literature in this 
country is not rich in such cases, and we need all the infor¬ 
mation we can get on this as well as other diseases of the 
heart. 
Some few of the readers of the Veterinarian may not be 
fully aware of the usual definition of hypertrophy . I may, 
therefore, be excused for appending a few remarks on the 
subject, simplifying them as much as possible. 
Hypertrophy of the heart may be true or false. When true, 
it is thought that the increase in size depends upon excessive 
nutrition and development of the muscular tissue only of the 
organ. By false hypertrophy is meant an increase in the 
volume of the heart by the deposition of a new and dissimilar 
structure in the substance of the organ, at the expense, or 
atrophy , of the original tissue, which formed almost the entire 
substance of its walls, and upon which this action depends. 
Such is a very brief description of hypertroph} r . 
The chief value of as much information as we can obtain 
on this subject is to assist us in forming a correct diagnosis, 
thereby enabling us to advise the owner accordingly. Should 
we feel satisfied that the heart is hypertrophied, our prognosis 
must always be unfavorable, for we are forced to the con¬ 
clusion that neither medicine nor any other means can pos¬ 
sibly effect a cure. Therefore, a horse so affected, although 
he may be able to do some work in the early stages of the 
disease, or when the heart has not become much increased in 
magnitude, nevertheless, in extreme cases, like the one in 
question, it would be wiser that the animal be destroyed, as 
no credit will accrue to the practitioner, nor any benefit to 
the proprietor, by his being kept alive. 
lloio is hypertrophy of the heart produced? It is thought 
that some degree of obstruction to the circulation, existing 
in parts remote from the organ itself, as in the lungs, chylo- 
poietic viscera, or in the capillary system generally, is the 
principal cause of the affection. We can conceive that 
increased muscular action in the heart, induced for the pur- 
