130 Disturbances of CirciilatioJi. 



that from the serous cavities, especially the pleura, is apt to be 

 richer in albumen.] In case of coincident escape of blood 

 corpuscles (in passive hypersemia) admixture of these elements 

 with the transudate may occur to a sufficient extent to give it a 

 blood-red color and occasion fibrin deposition {^hydrops hcemor- 

 rhagicus). In other instances admixture of fat from the blood 

 or from, fatty degeneration of the cellular elements macerated in 

 the fluid may give a milky appearance to it (hydrops adiposus, 

 chyliformis) ; and in abdominal dropsy a similar appearance may 

 be occasioned by rupture of the chylous vessels and admixture of 

 chyle with the fluid (hydrops chylosus). 



The amount of fluid in the large body cavities may reach con- 

 siderable volume, 10. 50 to 100 liters in large domestic animals. 

 Such quantities of fluid are naturally capable of exerting marked 

 pressure upon the dift'erent adjacent organs, and distend the walls 

 of these cavities. Consequently in case of ascites the peritoneal 

 cavity is considerably enlarged and becomes a fluctuating sac ; the 

 pericardial sac attains a wide outline and fluctuates ; and even the 

 chest wall may be distended and barrel-shaped from the separation 

 and outward displacement of the lower ribs. In the foetus, in 

 which the fontanelles are still yielding, the covering of the brain 

 becomes a huge sac. partly membranous, partly made up of the 

 cranial bones forced apart and transformed into thin plates. 

 When the transudate fills the spaces of a tissue the porous cellular 

 structure becomes a gelatinous, amber-colored, swollen mass, 

 from the cut-surface of which a serous fluid drips and whose 

 doughy swelling retains for a long time the pressure marks of a 

 finger. Sometimes bladder-like collections or cysts may form 

 from the forcible distension of the connective tissue spaces. 



Various terms have by custom been applied to these accumula- 

 tions of transuded fluid. CEdema of the skin is spoken of as 

 anasarca (from avi and adpi,, flesh; supply hydrops): collec- 

 tions in the pleural cavities as hydrothorax ; in the pericardial sac, 

 hydropericardhim; in the peritoneal cavity, ascites (from d<r/c6s, 

 bell}' ; namely, hydrops ascites) ; in the tunica vaginalis testis, 

 hydrocele (from v5wp-Kr)\-n . water rupture) ; in the cranial cavity, 

 hydrocephalus. 



The result of the oedema depends upon the location and cause 

 of the condition. Local dropsies of the skin may last a long 

 time, but eventually disappear after the removal of the cause 

 and the resorption of the fluid. CEdema of the tissues about the 



