DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS. 199 



ASCITES, OR Abdominal Dropsy. 



Ascites signifies a collection of serous fluid within the abdom- 

 inal cavity. The subject of this disease is noticed as having a 

 wymmetrical and uniform enlargement of the abdomen; and, if the 

 pjilicnt be a mare, some persons are likely to infer that she la 

 pregnant, but examination, by pressure, will suffice to determine 

 llie (onditions; for, if pressure be made with the fingers, in the 

 abdominal region, a waving or fluctuating motion is discovered, 

 similar to that which follows the forcible displacement of liquid. 

 This fluctuation is the discriminating symptom between ascites 

 and pregnancy, for in the case of pregnancy no such fluctuation 

 can be elicited. 



Ascites is usually the result of some chronic or acute disease of 

 the peritoneum (lining membrane of the walls of the abdomen), 

 or, rather, a loss of equilibrium between the local functions of 

 eecetion and absorption. This disease, like many others, may be 

 rapid or insidious. If rapid or acute, it is apt to prove fatal in 

 the course of a few days ; if insidious or chronic, the animal may 

 survive for a long time, as the following case will show : 



Case of Dropsy of the Abdomen, ending in Rupture of the Stom- 

 ach. — The subject of the above-named affections was a mare, owned 

 *}j the North Chicago Hailroad Company. She had been in their 

 (imploy during a period of three years, and had always performed 

 *he work required of her without any manifestation of disease; in 

 fact, had gone her usual trips up to within a few hours of her death. 

 She had just partaken of a hearty breakfast, when, all at once, she 

 began to falter, and the surface ol the body was soon bedewed with 

 a profuse jierspiration ; she trembled, the head became pendulous, 

 and the case assumed an alarming asj^ect. 



This happened at about six o'clock in the morning. At eiglil, 

 my attention was called to her, when the following symptoms wen 

 observed. Pulse, small and indistinct; rc.«i)irations, humid, and 

 rather laborious; abdomen, quite tense from di.stension ; peicns- 

 sion over the region of the abdomen yielded a dull sound, yet 

 fluctuating, shoM'ing that the abdominal cavity was occupied by 

 some kind of fluid. From the peculiar conformation of the abdo- 

 men, T at first suspected tliat the animal was pregnant, which 

 proved not to be the case. 



On percussin<r over tlic n^uion of the stomach, a tympanitic 



