620 GASTKITIS. 



The conditions under which irritation is apt to develop this 

 inflammatory action are— (1) Errors of dieting, inducing dis- 

 turbance of function. That it does show itself in some of the 

 cases of gastric distension from food, and where these have 

 been of repeated occurrence, we have sufficient evidence in 

 those cases which terminate fatally, although during life our 

 knowledge may not have been such as enabled us to connect 

 symptoms with definite morbid changes, (2) Following injury 

 from foreign bodies not articles of food, although possibly con- 

 tained in the food. (3) The existence at the time, or imme- 

 diately preceding the lesion, of certain specific fevers or general 

 diseased conditions. This we see well-marked in certain 

 attacks of the epizootic distemper or catarrhal fever of horses. 

 (4) Following the introduction into the stomach, or in some 

 instances the body — irrespective of its means of entrance — of 

 certain poisons. The chief mineral irritants we meet with 

 inducing gastritis, or gastritis as a dominant feature amongst 

 somewhat complicated morbid conditions, are arsenic and its 

 compounds, the salts of copper, mercury, and sometimes lead. 

 Amongst the vegetable irritants, if we exempt certain medicinal 

 agents which, either from a peculiar individual susceptibility, 

 or [the exhibition of an overdose, occasionally culminate in 

 inflammation of the digestive organs, the most largely credited 

 with the production of gastritis is the foliage of certain trees 

 and shrubs, particularly the yew and rhododendron. 



Anatomical Characters. — These are neither uniform as to 

 extent, area of structure involved, nor yet as to the exact 

 nature of the textural changes, much depending upon the 

 nature of the active agent in the production of the irritation. 

 When the cause has been repeated gastric disturbance from 

 errors in dieting, the changes, although occupying a consider- 

 able space, are rarely of the same character and intensity over 

 the entire portion invaded. The appearance is simply that of 

 hyperjBmia; the mucous membrane is cloudy and opaque, some- 

 what swollen, and it may be in patches undergoing granular 

 degeneration, with changes in the cell- elements of the gastric 

 tubes. 



When arising from the direct, or even secondary, action of 

 arsenic and other mineral irritants, the discolouration is usually 

 more uniformly spread in patches, not of a punctiform character, 



