INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS. 503 
are attached, and, moreover, their presence is seldom discovered until the 
season of their migration, when interference is uncalled for. On all 
accounts, therefore, it is unnecessary to enter into the question, whether 
it is possible to expel them ; and even if by chance one comes away pre- 
maturely it will be wise to avoid interfering by attempting to cause the 
expulsion of those left behind. 
INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS. 
(Peritonitis and Enteritis.) 
A REFERENCE to page 426 will explain that there are two divisions of 
the abdominal serous sac, one of which lines the walls of the cavity, and 
the other covers the viscera which lie in it. In human medicine, when 
the former is inflamed, the disease is termed perztonites, and when the 
latter is the subject of inflammatory action it is called enteritis. But 
though in theory this distinction is made, in practice it is found that the 
one seldom exists without the other being developed to a greater or less 
extent. Veterinary writers have generally taken the nomenclature 
adopted in human anatomy and pathology, but in regard to the inflam- 
mations of the bowels they define peritonitis as inflammation of the 
peritoneal or serous coat, and enteritis as inflammation of the muscular 
coat. My own belief is, that during life it is impossible by any known 
symptoms to distinguish the exact Jocale of any inflammation of the 
bowels but that of their mucous lining, which will presently be described, 
and that wherever the actual serous coverimg of the bowels is involved 
the muscular fibres beneath it will be implicated, but that the serious and 
fatal symptoms manifested in such cases are not dependent upon the 
latter, but are due entirely to the lesions of the serous coat. I have 
examined numberless fatal cases of supposed enteritis, and have uniformly 
found signs of inflammation of the serous investment, sometimes impli- 
cating the muscular fibres beneath, and often extending to the peritoneal 
lining of the walls of the abdomen, but I have never yet seen marks of 
inflammation in the muscular tissue without their serous covering being 
affected to a much greater extent. I believe therefore that the distinction 
is erroneously founded, and that, theoretically, the same definition 
should be made of the two diseases as 1s in use by human pathologists, 
though practically this is of little importance. There is no well made out 
inflammation of muscular tissue (except that of the heart) in which the 
symptoms are so urgent and so rapidly followed by a fatal issue as in the 
latter stages of the disease described by Mr. Percivall under the head 
enteritis, as follows :—“The next stage borders on delirium. The eye 
acquires a wild, haggard, and unnatural stare—the pupil dilates—his 
heedless and dreadful throes render approach to him quite perilous, he is 
an object not only of compassion but of apprehension, and seems fast 
hurrying to his end—when all at once, in the midst of agonising torments 
he stands quiet, as though every pain had left him and he were going to 
recover. His breathing becomes tranquillised—his pulse sunk beyond 
all perception—his body bedewed with a cold clammy sweat—he is in a 
tremor from head to foot, and about the legs and ears has even a dead- 
like feel. The mouth feels deadly chill—the lp drops pendulous, and the 
eye seems unconscious of objects. In fine, death, not recovery, is at hand. 
Mortification has seized the inflamed bowel—pain can no longer be felt 
in that which a few minutes ago was the seat of most exquisite suffering. 
