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CASE OF CHRONIC DISEASE OF THE HEART 
OF A HEIFER. 
By H. Lepper, M.R.C.V.S., Aylesbury. 
I herewith send an interesting specimen of disease of 
the heart of long standing, which was taken from a four-year- 
old heifer of the pure short-horn breed, and which possessed 
a pedigree of the first order, and had obtained honours at 
the meetings of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. 
She was the property of Sir Anthony Rothschild, and was 
generally kept at his “ model farm/ 7 at Aston Clinton. 
In the spring of last year, she brought forth two fine 
healthy calves, and as she apparently was perfectly well 
afterwards, she was depastured in the park throughout the 
summer months with other beasts of her class. During the 
latter part of the summer she was noticed to look less 
blooming in her condition than her companions, and was, 
consequently, in the beginning of the autumn, removed to the 
(C Hill Farm/ 7 being a very high and dry situation. She was 
here most liberally fed, and was thought to be doing well until 
the beginning of March, when she fell a little off her appe¬ 
tite, but as she was approaching the time of her second 
calving, it was not taken much notice of. At this period she 
was brought back again to her old quarters, the model 
farm, to await her delivery, which was expected to take 
place about the 18th of March. 
My attention was called to her on the ninth day after her 
arrival, when I found that her appetite was much impaired, 
and that rumination was also suspended. She was dull; the 
faeces watery, dark, and offensive; the pulse about 75 in the 
minute; the margins of the lips of a purple hue; the ears 
and horns rather cold; and indeed the temperature of the 
whole body below the healthy standard. The mammary 
glands w ere flaccid, and it was evident that little or no secre¬ 
tion w 7 as going on, although she was w ithin a few days of the 
time of parturition. From the character of the symptoms I 
w r as induced to regard the case as one of general congestion 
of the capillaries of the system, and more especially of the 
liver. I directed that she should be kept warm, and be sup¬ 
plied wfith food of any description that would be likely to 
tempt her appetite. I also gave her small doses of the 
chloride of mercury, in combination with opium, twice a day. 
Some aromatic infusion was likewise exhibited. The con- 
