CHAPTER LXV. 



SPOEADIC DISEASES— continued. 



LOCAL DISEASES— cowfinwed 



(0.) DISEASES OF THE BOWELS— continued. 



ASCITES, OR DEOPSY OF THE ABDOMEK 



Peritonitis, or acute inflammation of the coats of the abdominal 

 cavity, having been already described in Principles and Practice 

 of Veterinary Surgery, I need only refer to it here as a condition 

 which may lead to an alteration of the peritoneal structure by 

 the inflammation becoming chronic, and to a collection of fluid 

 in the cavity, constituting ascites, which may be defined to be 

 a collection of fluid in the peritoneal sac — the nature of such 

 fluid being sometimes simple, consisting of a pale straw-coloured 

 serum, sometimes more complex, the serosity being mixed with 

 flakes of lymph, and inclosed in cysts or cavities by the adhesions 

 of false membranes. 



CAUSES. 



Direct disease of the peritoneum is a very rare cause of ascites 

 in all the domesticated animals except the ox, in which it is 

 found frequently, as a result of tubercular growths — " grapes " — 

 studded over the surface of the membrane. 



Ascites results most frequently from diseases of the liver, the 

 heart, or the portal blood-vessels ; as a consequence of cardiac 

 debility in some exhausting diseases ; and from the ingestion of 

 improper food, as when animals are kept during winter upon 

 poor, ill-drained, or moorland pasture. It may also arise from 

 anaemia and deficiency of albumen in the blood, whether in- 

 duced by parasites, as in the " rot " in sheep, or independently 



