418 

 SECTION X. 



DISEASES OF THE PERITONEUM. 



PERITONITIS. ASCITES. 



PERITONITIS, 



The peritoneum is the membrane lining the cavity of the 

 belly, and by reflection furnishing a capsule or external 

 covering, partial or complete, to every viscus therein con- 

 tained. By peritonitis is implied, inflammation of this mem- 

 brane. Compared with many others, this is a disease which 

 happens less frequently in horses than in men — perhaps on 

 account of the absence of inguinal and scrotal hernia, and 

 the comparative scarcity of operations implicating the peri- 

 toneum ; as well as in some measure, owing to the opposite 

 habits of living pursued ; though, when the membrane does 

 take on inflammation, as in men so in horses, unless injury 

 of some sort be the cause, the chronic form is more apt to 

 prevail than the acute. 



Acute Peritonitis, indeed, is in horses but a rare 

 occurrence : almost the only well-marked cases we see of it 

 — barring such as are occasioned by incidental injury — 

 being those that arise from the operation of castration. 

 Puerperal peritonitis may be looked upon as disease sui 

 generis, arising from causes of a peculiar or extraordinary na- 

 ture ; and a disease to which neat cattle are more obnoxious 

 than horses. I do not mean to deny that the disease may 

 originate in the application of cold to the surface of the body 

 while heated ; in the imbibition of cold water under similar 

 circumstances, and so forth ; but I do mean to contend that 

 such occurrences are very uncommon. It is a great deal 

 more likely to arise from mechanical injury of some sort — 

 from a puncture in the belly, or from overstraining the body 

 in continued or violent acts of galloping or leaping; and this 

 accounts for its presence in hunters that die '^ over-marked,'^ 



