Acute Prostatitis and Hype7'cemia of the Prostate. 269 



Diffuse (Interstitial) Prostatitis shows, in addition to the 

 general swelling and nuico-purnlent discharge, a considerable 

 exudate into the interstitial tissue, with increased tension and 

 resistance of its substance. It is associated during life with more 

 fever and constitutional disturbance than the simple catarrhal or 

 follicular form. 



In Circumscribed Prostatic Abscess we find, in addition to 

 the general hyperccmia and swelling, a much more prominent 

 local swelling, the seat of intense inflammation, at first firm and 

 resistant and later softer and fluctuating in the centre, which is 

 filled with pus. This ma}' have its origin in the follicular form, 

 the pus becoming shut up in a follicle and graduall}' increasing 

 until it bursts into the urethra, the bladder, the rectum, the peri- 

 toneum, or pelvic fascia and perineum. In other cases it becomes 

 complicated by pyaemia and secondarj^ absce.s.ses. 



Miliary Abscesses ma}' be comparatively few in number or 

 generally diffused through the pro.state, and are often the result 

 of a pre-existing general infection. 



Symptoms. As the disease usually begins as a local infection 

 the first symptoms are. as a rule, unattended by fever, which, 

 however, appears in two or three days as the local lesions in- 

 crease. The urine may be passed frequently in small amounts, 

 or there may be frequent straining without pa.ssage of urine, the 

 pressure of the swollen prostate, with or without spa.sm of the 

 sphincter vescicje, cau.sing retention. It is no uncommon thing 

 to find the last urine pa.ssed of a milky or glairy character and, 

 coagula moulded in the prostatic canals ma}' at times be found. 

 Tlie presence of spermatic cry.stals, fusiform, with very pointed 

 extremities, and precipitated on the addition of ammonium phos- 

 phate, is characteristic of prostatic fluid, (Fiirbringer). In 

 other cases there is incontinence, the urine dribbling awav in- 

 voluntarily as the animal walks, and especially if anything occurs 

 to excite him. Micturition may be painless or attended by acute 

 suffering, which causes a sudden arrest of the flow. Defecation 

 is attended with difficulty and more or less pain, and ob.stinate 

 constipation is likely to set in. The animal is dull, spiritless and 

 seeks to lie undisturbed. Pressure on the perineum is painful 

 and exercise aggravates the symptoms. Rectal examination by 

 the hand or finger according to the size of the animal, reveals 



