ACUTE GASTRO-INTESTINAL CATARRH IN THE HORSE. 73 



at other times it is marked with large ecchymoses, assuming fre- 

 quently a ramified disposition. These interstitial hemorrhages are 

 of various dimensions; they are found punctiform, lenticular, or 

 more extended and irregular ; they give the inflamed membrane a 

 red-speckled, spotted, or streaky appearance (hemorrhagic catarrh 

 of older authors). 



The mucus, secreted in considerable quantity, forms a muco- 

 fibrinous or muco- purulent covering on the surface of the mucous 

 membrane, which may have been colored a more or less dark red 

 by the blood of superficial hemorrhages ; io microscopic examina- 

 tion we detect the presence of mucous corpuscles, leucocytes, and 

 desquamated epithelial cells undergoing dissolution. 



' No histological study of alterations of the mucous membrane, in 

 the horse, has been made. According to Ziegler's researches on 

 man, this membrane is found to present degeneration of the cylin- 

 drical epithelium of the excretory tubes of the glands, abundance 

 of granulations of the epithelium of the pepsin glands, cellular 

 infiltration of the inter-glandular and submucous connective tissue, 

 lastly swelling and desquamation of the endothelium of the 

 lymphatics. 



2. Alterations of the intestine. They are nearly similar 

 to those of the stomach. The mucous membrane is tumefied and 

 raised by the serous infiltration of the subjacent connective tissue ; 

 the muscular layer is also infiltrated ; often the whole intestinal 

 wall can be torn very easily. Inflammatory hyperemia is generally 

 limited to small surfaces, sometimes it is spread over the entire 

 intestine. In certain cases the papillse and villi alone are inflamed, 

 they are of a bright or dark red tint, and are more or less projecting. 

 The inflammation may finally be localized aroiind the solitary or 

 agminated follicles. In this last variety of the disease, designattd 

 follicular catarrh, the follicles protrude on the surface of the mucous 

 membrane in the form of whitish-gray nodules, varying in size 

 from a millet- to a hemp-seed, and surrounded by a reddish zone. 

 This condition has been found in the large intestine by Roll; it is 

 also observed in the small intestine. When the inflammed follicles 

 are subjected to a purulent transformation, or if they are used up 

 by the friction from alimentary matters, there will be found 

 crater-like cavities remaining in their place, which must not be 

 mistaken for intestinal ulcers, and which may be properly called 

 follicular ulcers. We may observe more or less difluse epithelial 



