TRAUMATIC PERICARDITIS IN A COW. 
179 
ORIGINAL ARTICLES. 
[Written for the American Veterinary Review.] 
HEART DISEASE. 
By J. A. Couture, V.S., Quebec. 
CASE IV. —Traumatic Pericarditis in a Cow—Death. 
Iii my last article on this subject (page 749 of the Review) I 
insisted upon the necessity of examining the heart carefully 
when we were called to attend a case of supposed disease of the 
digestive organs of cattle. The following, case will illustrate 
this recommendation. 
I11 cattle the most common disease of the heart is traumatic 
pericarditis, whose frequence is due : 1st, to the tendency of 
cattle to swallow foreign bodies with their food ; 2d, to the prox¬ 
imity of the pericardium'to the diaphragm, consequently to the 
rumen. The fact is that some authors, for instance, Freidberger 
and Frohner, believe that pericarditis is always caused by a 
trauma in this class of patient. That is not always the case, 
however, for I have published in the March number of the 
Review a case which was certainly not traumatic ; the most 
careful autopsy having failed to reveal the presence of a foreign 
body in either the rumen, the diaphragm or pericardium. 
On the 10th of March last I was called to see a cow that re¬ 
quired immediate attendance. I found an Ayrshire cow, seven 
years old, pregnant seven months, and I was informed by the 
stableman that the foetus must be dead as the cow was trying to 
expel it. The hand pushed into the passage found a dead foetus ; 
the head and fore legs were already engaged in the vagina. 
It was removed without trouble and so was the placenta. I was 
going to leave the place when the attendant informed me that 
the cow had been feeding very little for a fortnight and that 
within a few days a swelling had appeared at the brisket. I 
found her pulse 90, weak ; respiration 40 ; temperature 103. The 
patient was very weak, the rumen was sore on pressure, but was at 
