ACUTE GASTRO-INTESTINAL CATARRH IN THE HORSE. 77 



in gastric catarrh. The abdomen is sometimes distended by gases, 

 and is quite sensitive to palpation. . As a rule, the peristaltic move- 

 ments are very active, and noisy borborygmi are heard even at a 

 distance ; but at certain periods these movements do not any longer 

 occur, and the intestinal noises are hardly perceptible. At the 

 beginning the feces are large and soft ; they are often coated with 

 Si thick mucus ; sometimes they may be covered with whitish or 

 yellowish (proctitis) croupous membranes. Numerous undigested 

 grains of oats and long and coarse fragments of fodder are seen in 

 i:he excrements, which smell putrid or sour. A greenish-yellow 

 liquid, which soils the tail and the inside of the hind legs, some- 

 times runs from the anus immediately after defecation. ' There is 

 a constant escape of bad-smelling gases, but especially at times of 

 defecation. 



Loose diarrhea appears ; this is an important symptom from a 

 diagnostic point of view. The excrements, which were watery and 

 soft, are changed into a thick pulp, which becomes softer ; then the 

 feces are altogether liquid and have an acid or putrid odor ; weak- 

 ness becomes excessive, the anus remains gaping, and there is a 

 continual escape of matter from it (colliquative diarrhea). These 

 matters, going through decomposition, are of an acid reaction (fat 

 acids); but this is of little value as a diagnostic symptom, for in 

 the normal state the excrements often have an acid reaction. 



In certain cases of acute catarrh, when phlegmasia is localized 

 upon the small intestine, diarrhea may be absent ; the diarrheic 

 fluid is entirely reabsorbed, the intestinal contents become more 

 and more compact as they approach the rectum, and the excrements 

 are moulded. On the other hand, the existence of an intestinal 

 catarrhal affection is not always indicated by diarrhea. A green 

 diet may influence diarrhea ; this may even be produced through 

 a simple acceleration of peristaltic movements of reflex origin, 

 through a consecutive stasis of blood, as are frequently observed 

 after a sudden taking of cold. 



The urine, which is hardly altered in gastric catarrh, is always 

 much modified in enteritis. As soon as diarrhea exists the urine 

 is excreted in less quantity, and its specific gravity is increased ; it 

 often changes its color, ordinarily it becomes clearer, more trans- 

 parent, and loses its sediment — these modifications are more or less 

 marked. The proportion of iudican increases : this fact is well es- 

 tablished in human medicine ; we have recognized it in the horse in 



