DTARRHCEA. 751 



of colic manifest. Tliere may be slight tenesmus, and the anus is dilated 

 as if it were paralyzed ; while the air passing into the rectum produces a 

 peculiar sound. Towards the end, the creature remains immovable, as if 

 paralyzed, and dies without a struggle. 



Zundel and others state, that if the disease continues for any length of 

 time, the diarrhoea is accompanied by congestion and ulceration of the 

 intestinal mucous membrane, through the acridity of the secretions, as well 

 as inflammation and excoriation of the skin around the anal opening. 

 Then there is fever with its attendant symptoms, and the abdomen is very 

 sensitive to pressure and becomes more and more retracted ; while the 

 evacuations are increased in frequency, are more foetid, and finally become 

 serous and sanguinolent. 



Brugnone has observed as a complication in the diarrhoea of foals, a 

 kind of ophthalmia more particularly involving the anterior chamber of 

 the eye, accompanied by tumefaction of the cornea and lachrymation.* 

 A similar complication has been noticed in calves ; and in the diarrhoea 

 of poultry this ophthalmia is often noticed. 



Zundel alludes to constipation alternating with the diarrhoea ; and also 

 to the occurrence of convulsions, similar to those present in infantile 

 diarrhoea. Rainard mentions consecutive pneumonia, with suppression 

 of the diarrhoea, as a termination of the disorder. 



Pathological Anatomy. 



Rainard was of opinion that the diarrhoea of young animals is due to 

 an irritation of the colon and rectum. There is a kind of atony, and a 

 special catarrhal condition of this portion of the intestinal tract, with 

 frequently pseudo-ulcerations due to an alteration in the follicles, but 

 without any trace of inflammation. He never found any lesions in the 

 small intestines or stomach. The lymphatic glands corresponding to the 

 diseased intestines are voluminous, reddened, and infiltrated with a red- 

 dish fluid. Zundel thinks these alterations are caused by microscopic 

 entozoa, and he is of opinion that the malady is especially due to the 

 influence of microphytes, which are developed in excess in the posterior 

 portions of the intestinal canal, which the bile does not reach. This 

 excessive development is simply owing to the superabundance of fluid in 

 the tube ; and the growth of these minute organisms, again, still further 

 increases the secretion of intestinal mucus. Billard and Valleix, a long 

 time ago, announced that the diseased condition known as " thrush " 

 {aphtha) of children is produced by a cryptogamous parasite, and that 

 this, extending along the mucous membrane of the intestines, has been 

 found in infantile diarrhoea. Hallier and Zurn have proved the presence 

 of micrococci in the diarrhoea of animals. 



Franck is the most recent authority on this malady, and his observa- 

 tions are of great importance, not only from the care with which he has 

 studied it, but also from the scientific manner in which he has investi- 

 gated its pathological anatomy. He examined a number of bodies of 

 calves which had recently died of the disease, and always found the same 

 characteristic alterations, of which the following are given as typical : 



* The following are the symptoms observed in the foal by Brugnone. " The diarrhoea commences two or 

 three days after birth ; a yellow, acrid, sometimes purulent-looking fluid, is evacuated ; the foal becomes 

 rapidly emaciated and is nearly always lying ; it is weak and staggers about, sucks little or none at all, and 

 finally falls into a state of complete marasmus- During the first period it is not rare to observe a general 

 ophthalmia occur; the humors of the eye are turbid, the eyes are painful, tears flow continually, the eye- 

 ball becomes bnried in its socket and atrophied, and vision appears to be lost." 



