DROPSY. 239 



tion of it, is inflamed, and a greater quantity of blood than usual is 

 determined to that part, the secretion from the exhalent vessels will 

 be increased ; and in consequence of this there will be accumulation 

 of fluid in the bag of the heart, when that oigan, or its investing 

 membrane, is inflamed ; dropsy in the chest will be the consequence 

 of pleurisy, and dropsy of the abdomen that of inflammation of the 

 peritoneal membrane generally, or of any part of it. Chronic inflam- 

 mation of the liver or spleen, or of any particular portion of the intes- 

 tinal canal, will have the same termination from increased action of 

 the exhalents ; a similar eS"ect will occasionally be produced by the 

 sudden stopping of any long-continued evacuation, or acute or 

 chronic eruption ; and on the other hand, feeding in low, marshy 

 situations, the privation of wholesome ahment, and every cause of 

 general debility, will produce an accumulation of fluid from loss of 

 po\ in the absorbents. 



0. 6ute dropsy the practitioner has occasional examples. A 

 beast, nparently well on the preceding day, suddenly exhibits 

 manife^ symptoms of inflammation of the bowels. The disease 

 proceeds in defiance of all medical treatment, and in two or three 

 days the patient is lost. On examination after death, the traces of 

 inflammation of the peritoneum are sufficiently evident ; there is 

 deposition of flocculent matter ; there are adhesions, but, most impor- 

 tant of all, the belly is filled with clear, or turbid, or bloody fluid, 

 and the death of the animal was as much occasioned by the irritation 

 produced by the pressure of this fluid, and the labor of breathing 

 which it occasioned, as by the previous or still-existing inflammation. 



Of chronic dropsy, or a slower filling of the belly, he has more 

 frequent proof. The beast increases slowly in size ; it is an enlarge- 

 ment, not of the left side as in hoove, or of the right as in flatulent 

 colic, but of the belly generally, and sometimes almost as slow as in 

 the increase of condition. It evidently is not that, for the limbs are 

 wasting, or if they occasionally increase in size, it is a pufty cedema- 

 tous enlargement, and not the accumulation of flesh and fat. The 

 animal at the same time is dull ; disinclined to move ; the skin is 

 dry ; the coat is rough ; the thirst is excessive ; there is alternate 

 constipation and diarrhoea ; the membranes of the mouth and nose are 

 pale, and the conjunctiva is of a feint yellow. By degrees the belly 

 drops, and leav^es a considerable hollow at the flanks, and by tapping 

 on the sides the evident fluctuation of water can be perceived. The 

 pressure of the fluid on the diaphragm lessens the cavity of the chest, 

 and does not leave sufficient room for the lungs to expand ; labor of 

 breathing ensues — it increases ; the animal is not able to stand long, 

 and when he lies down the respiration is so difficult, and the feeling 

 of suffocation is so strong, that he scrambles up again as quli'klv as 

 his remaining strength will permit, and at length dies, either of abso- 

 lute suff'ocation or mere debility. 



