The fluid accumulates within the tissues leading to dropsy, or the accumulation may take place in some of the cavities of the body.

The diminished flow of blood through the lungs prevents its proper oxygenation; this may also be interfered with by the accumulation of fluid within the air spaces of the lungs.
Every additional burden thrown upon the heart increases the evil.

In women the additional burden of pregnancy may suffice to overcome a compensation which has been perfect, and the same may result from an acute attack of disease.

Age, diminishing as it does the capacity for work in all organs, diminishes the compensation capacity of the heart, and a heart which at the age of forty acts perfectly may break down at the age of fifty.

Compensation may be gained in other ways, as by reducing the demand made upon the heart by changing the mode of life, by leading an inactive rather than an active life, by avoiding excitement or any condition which entails work of the heart.