PALPITATION DEPENDENT ON ORGANIC │PALPITATION INDEPENDENT OF ORGANIC DISEASE OF THE HEART. │ DISEASE OF THE HEART. │ 1. Palpitation usually comes on │1. Palpitation usually sets in slowly and gradually. │ suddenly. 2. Palpitation constant, though │2. Palpitation not constant, having more marked at one period than at│ perfect intermissions. another. │ 3. Impulse of the heart usually │3. Impulse neither heaving nor stronger than natural, sometimes │ prolonged; often abrupt knocking remarkably increased heaving and │ and circumscribed, and prolonged; at others irregular │ accompanied by a fluttering and unequal. │ sensation (visible jerking or │ lifting) in the precordial region │ or epigastrium (flank and │ abdomen). 4. Palpitation often accompanied by│4. Auscultatory signs of diseased the auscultatory signs of │ valves absent; bellows sound diseased valves. │ often present in the large │ arteries and a continuous murmur │ in the veins. 5. Rythm of the heart regular, │5. Rythm of heart usually regular, irregular, or intermittent; its │ sometimes intermittent; its action not necessarily quickened.│ action generally more rapid than │ natural. 6. Mucous membranes often reddened │6. Mucous membranes generally pale; and congested; dropsy of hind │ dropsy of hind limbs rare. limbs common. │ 7. Palpitation increased by │7. Palpitation increased by close exercise, by stimulants and │ confinement; by local and general tonics, etc.; relieved by rest │ bleedings, etc.; relieved by and frequently also by local and │ moderate exercise and by general bleeding and an │ stimulants and tonics, antiphlogistic regimen. │ particularly the preparations of │ iron. Palpitations in the lower animals not dependent on any structural disease of the heart are usually due to some violent mental emotion, such as fear or joy. The author once possessed a fast and clever cob, having no sign of organic disease, and equal to the severest work on the road without showing signs of exhaustion, but which nevertheless was affected by palpitation when threatened with a cane in his stall, or if he had been guilty of some wilful misdemeanor for which he dreaded punishment. In such cases the heart’s action was accelerated and the beating could be heard loudly for a distance of several yards. They are especially common in dogs under strong mental emotion (joy, fear), and in dogs and pigs suffering from digestive disorder (worms) or chest diseases.