DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS. 199 
ASCITES, OR ABDOMINAL DRropsy. 
Ascites signifies a collection of scrous fluid within the abdom- 
inal cavity. The subject of this disease is noticed as having a 
sywmetrical and uniform enlargement of the abdomen ; and, if the 
patient be a mare, some persons are likely to infer that she is 
pregnant, but examination, by pressure, will suffice to determine 
the conditions; 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 
secretion 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 
turvive 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 
by the North Chicago Railroad Company. She had been in their 
employ 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 ot the body was soon bedewed with 
a profuse perspiration ; she trembled, the head became pendulcus, 
and the case assumed an alarming aspect. 
This happened at about six o’clock in the morning. At eight, 
my attention was called to her, when the following symptoms were 
observed. Pulse, small and indistinct ; respirations, humid, and 
rather laborious; abdomen, quite tense from distension ; percus- 
sion over the region of the abdomen yielded a dull sound, yet 
fluctuating, showing that the abdominal cavity was occupied by 
some kind of fluid. From the peculiar conformation of the abdo- 
men, I at first suspected that the animal was pregnant, which 
proved not to be the case. 
On percussing cver the region of the stomach, a tympaniti« 
