DISEASES OF THE INTESTINES. 233 



become duller and more amaurotic, the mouth becomes 

 clammy, the breath perhaps foetid, until at length he can 

 hold out no longer, and death puts an end to his suf- 

 fering. 



Prognosis. — Enteritis is generally fatal. If, as happens 

 in some rare instances, the acute symptoms abate after the 

 lapse of a few hours, and the pulse regains in some degree 

 its normal character, becoming fuller, softer, and slower, 

 there is great hope of recovery. 



Morbid Anatomy. — In the form of enteritis which we 

 spoke of as congestive, the post-mortem appearances are 

 very marked and characteristic. 



The mucous membrane of the affected section of the gut 

 is intensely congested, being of a deep purple or even black 

 colour, and in many instances there is a copious effusion of 

 blood in the intestinal canal. The mucous coat is much 

 thickened, and can be easily separated from its connections 

 with the underlying coats of gut. There is also consider- 

 able thickening of the submucous and subserous coats, 

 which are intensely infiltrated with sero-hsemorrhagic 

 effusion. 



The colon is said to be more frequently the seat of this 

 violent form of inflammation than any other part of the 

 bowel. 



In some cases, so extensive is the infiltration and thick- 

 ening of the submucous tissue, and so intense is the inflam- 

 matory process, that this coat appears as a dark purple or 

 black gelatinous mass of two inches or more in thickness, 

 extending for varying lengths of the gut, and sometimes in- 

 volving many feet of the intestinal tract. 



Even though the amount of effusion into the gut be very 

 great, and the contents themselves be fluid, the bowels usually 

 remain inactive owing to paralysis of the muscular coats. 



In other forms of enteritis the inflammatory process is 



