GASTRO-ENTERITIS. 307 



M. Girard, in the right cavities, sometimes in the left, and sometimes in 

 both right and left at once : they always occupy the auriculo-ventricular 

 opening, and more or less completely fill it. Such appearances would 

 have escaped observation both in men and animals, had not M. Girard 

 pointed them out in horses in the gastro-enteritis, called the epidemic of 

 1825. Do they form during or after life? The former Director of the 

 Alfort School entertained the first hypothesis, and thought that the con- 

 cretions in question might prove the cause of death, by producing that 

 suffocation which he had observed in horses who died suddenly, and in a 

 manner asphyxiated. Supposing it were so, adds M. Girard, we should 

 obtain an easy explanation to the obstruction of the lungs, the engorge- 

 ment of the liver, the phlogosis of the air-tubes, and the presence of 

 frothy mucus within them. According to the same authority, the internal 

 surfaces of the cavities of the heart present vestiges of sur-acute inflam- 

 mation; the redness is most remarkable in the tricuspid and mitral 

 valves, and extends into the arterial and venous trunks ; though it is not 

 equally perceptible in all the cavities of the heart, or within the venous 

 and arterial trunks. * * * * jj^ general, little alteration is visible 

 in the brain; though in some subjects the exterior presents marks of in- 

 flammation. M. Girard once observed inflammation in the right lobe ; 

 and M. Rainaud speaks of the injection of the veins of the brain, of 

 effusion into the lateral ventricles, of slight yellowish infiltration, and of 

 concreticms of the same hue in the choroid plexus. When the urinary 

 apparatus participates in the inflammation, the kidneys are redder than 

 ordinary, and their tissue is extremely lacerable ; the bladder exhibiting 

 red spots, and the urine being saffron or brick-dust coloured. In some 

 instances the whole of the sub-cutaneous, cellular, and muscular tissue is 

 infiltrated, and its areolse are filled with yellowish fluid : an appearance 

 most remarkable in the breast, scrotum, and sheath, when such parts have 

 proved cedematous during life. 



Such were the principal signs of disease observed in the horses who 

 fell victims to the gastro-enteritis of 1825. The principal and most 

 constant lesion, however — that which constituted the disease, and from 

 which all the others were derived — was inflammation of the mucous 

 membrane of the stomach and intestines. 



The Diagnostic^ from the number and confusion of the symptoms pre- 

 sent, is often difiicult as regards the organ essentially diseased, though 

 there is no mistaking an acute attack of gastro-enteritis. 



The Prognosis must depend upon the number and intensity of the 

 sympathetic phlegmasiae present, their extent and probable termination, 

 as well as upon the gastro-enteritic affection. In general, horses die 

 from the fourth to the seventh day ; the fifth day is commonly most 

 critical ; the ninth day that after which the patient is regarded as safe. 



