DIARRHEA 179 



.cheese, milk, etc., may undergo fermentative changes in the 

 intestinal tract or from their decomposition contain preformed 

 toxic substances which excite diarrhea. Excessive amounts 

 of food may set up a diarrhea as a result of derangement of 

 the gastric digestion and secondary bacterial fermentations. 



(c) A large number of purgatives, when administered in 

 large doses, will produce diarrhea by acting upon the muscle 

 of the bowel and the nervous mechanism stimulating peri- 

 stalsis and thus hastening the contents through the bowels 

 before absorption can take place. Salines (magnesium 

 sulphate) increase the amount of fluid in the bowels, and also 

 stimulate peristalsis. Some foods in which bacterial decom- 

 position has taken place will have an action similar to salines 

 greatly increasing the amount of fluids in the bowels by excit- 

 ing secretion from the glands in the mucosa. 



(d) In some animals (cat) the nervous mechanism of the 

 stomach will be greatly influenced by shock, fright, excite- 

 ment, etc., and severe diarrhea may result. 



(e) Diarrhea may result from diseases of other organs. In 

 diseases of the stomach, when undigested food is passed 

 into the intestines, the resulting irritation may induce severe 

 diarrhea. In valvular insufficiencies or other heart lesions a 

 congestion of the mucous membrane of the bowel results and 

 an excessive secretion follows. Diseases of the kidney may 

 also produce diarrhea by vicarious excretion of urea ma 

 intestinal tract. The urea decomposes producing free 

 ammonia which irritates the mucosa causing a severe form 

 of diarrhea. 



(/) Various infections in the bowels (distemper, etc.) are 

 associated with a more or less intense diarrhea. Infections 

 with lesions at some distance from the bowels may have 

 diarrhea as a consequence due to the elimination of toxic 

 substances from the intestinal mucous membrane, which 

 can result in severe diarrhea. An overproduction of bile 

 during the course of some diseases of the liver can have the 

 same effect. 



(g) Organic diseases of the bowels (catarrhs, ulcerations) 

 often lead to diarrhea from the irritation and resultant 

 products of decomposition. 



