The =pericardial murmur=, caused by the rubbing of the dry roughened surface of the serous membrane covering the heart on the correspondingly dry rough surface of the same membrane, reflected on the investing sac, resembles that caused by passing the palm of the one hand over the other which lies on the ear. It is distinguished from the friction sound of pleurisy by its coinciding with the movements of the heart and not with those of respiration. It is usually heard alike during the sounds of the heart and during the period of silence or in other words during the movements of contraction and dilatation in that organ. =General Symptoms of Heart disease.= In the acute inflammatory affections there are the signs of general constitutional disturbance attending similar affections in other organs. The decision as to the true nature of the disease must be arrived at from the special character of the pulse, heart sounds, etc. as already noticed. In the chronic forms of the disease however a particular class of symptoms usually point towards the organ affected. In cattle, sheep and pigs raised only for slaughter, and as far as possible protected against active exertion, serious heart diseases may exist for a length of time without making themselves manifest by any prominent symptoms. Thus in cows, pins and other sharp pointed bodies swallowed with the food frequently make their way to the heart and lodge for a length of time in its vicinity without material derangement and when at last the animal dies a sudden death they are found transfixing the walls of that organ. In the horse or other animal subjected to exertion the symptoms are usually very patent. When the heart is enlarged the pulse strong and the circulation full and free, apoplexies or hemorrhages especially on the brain or other soft organs where the resistance is least, are liable to occur. When on the other hand the circulation is weak from atrophy or fatty degeneration of the heart, or from insufficiency of the valves there is a tendency to coldness of the extremities, and to passive congestions with their consequences:—serous effusions, dropsies, and difficult breathing. The imperfect supply of blood to the muscles of the extremities sometimes brings about an unsteadiness of gait in the hind limbs when the animal is trotted for a short distance and sometimes cramps supervene. Continued coldness of the limbs, and a filling or thickening first of the hind limbs then of the fore and lastly of the chest and belly and of the skin beneath their dependent parts are useful indications. Shortness of breath and inability to proceed when trotted or galloped on hard ground or when walked up hill, the animal being in fair condition, without fever or cough, but subject to cold extremities and a venous pulse in the jugulars, almost certainly indicates insufficiency of the auriculo-ventricular valves on the right side of the heart.