Pericarditis, with Fatty Degeneration of the Heart.--DR. H. KENNED1" exhibited a specimen of heart-disease, to the clinical history of which he wished partleularly to call the attention of the Society. He said :--A man of strong frame, and twenty-six years of age, was admitted to the Whitworth Hospital, Drumcoudra, in a state of great dyspncea. He was rather corpulent, and stated he had lived chiefly on porter. On a close examination after his admission I could lay my finger on only two

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... signs. He referred all his distress to the left lobe of the liver, and pressure here caused him severe pain. It was clear that there was congestion of the organ. Secondly, percussion over the posterior surface of the thorax showed that on the left side the sound was distinctly duller than on the right. What this dulness arose from was not easy to determine ; for all that the stethoscope disclosed-was what might be called an exaggerated breathing, aImost puerile, and this existed both over the back and front of the thorax. Over the cardiac region I could not detect any morbid sound. It was evident that the lung intervened between the heart and the stethoscope. After seeing the patient two or three times, and having investigated tile case as closely as I could, I was forced, by what the French call " exclusion," to arrive at the conclusion that the heart was in some way or other involved. The pulse, I should have said, was rapid, and during a part of the man's illness hard to catch at the wrist. SUbsequently it became more developed, and not as rapid as at first. As I said before, no morbid sound could be heard over the region of the heart; neither did pressure here give any pain. I notice these points partieularly~ because other experience led me to think pericarditis might be present~ and account for all the symptoms; it was, however, but a conjecture. Still, as the case went on~ I got a stronger and stronger conviction that the mischief lay in or about the heart, and~ acting under this idea, the treatment consisted in stimulants, calomel, and blisters. But though for two days these seemed to afford some relief, still the dyspncea again increased, and the patient died, after being one week in hospital. The entire illness occupied about a fortnight. The post mortem examination was performed by lVlr. Hall, the resident clinical clerk~ but it was done under much difficulty, and at night. The liver was considerably enlarged and very fatty--this latter point being confirmed by Dr. Brown. The pericardium contained twelve ounces of serous fluid~