THBOMBO-EMBOLIC COLICS. 



165 



The arteries of the small intestine anastomose near the viscera ; 

 an embolus in a single branch is never a fatal accident. 



Fatal alterations. When at the autopsy of animals that 

 have died from these colics we find emboli, thrombi, a rupture of 

 the stomach or intestine, an enteritis or peritonitis, there can be no 

 doubt as to the nature of the disease. But embolic colics may be 

 observed which terminate in death after twelve, eighteen, or twenty- 

 four hours, before these grave gastro-intestinal alterations have had 

 time to develop ; then the intestine is usually much distended with 

 gas or obstructed. In this case death may have been produced by 

 various causes : 



1. Through strong compression exerted for some time upo7\ the 

 diaphragm, tvith œdema of the lungs and asphyxia. The symptoms 

 of asphyxia are frequently observed. 



2. Through an elevation of the arterial tension oooasioning cerebral 

 and pulmonary apoplexy. This increase of tension is due to the 

 pressure exerted by the distended abdominal viscera upon the large 

 vascular trunks. 



3. Through carbonic acid intoxication. This takes place accord- 

 ing to the laws of diffusion, as soon as the amount of the gas 

 present in the blood is less in quantity than in the contents of the 

 digestive organs. 



4. Through the passage of septic products into the blood. They 

 may be of a chemical nature (intoxication), or may consist of germ 

 elements (infection). Semmer^ has often found the latter in gaseous 

 colics. The possibility of blood-infection, when a portion of the 

 small intestine is paralyzed or necrotic, is unquestionable. Proof 

 of this is found in the alterations presented by the liver. This 

 organ is a true filter where the septic products collect ; immediately 

 after death, cadaveric putrefaction not having yet set in, we find 

 it already in a very advanced condition of septic decomposition. 

 The chemical poisons are not yet well understood so far as their 

 nature is concerned ; Bollinger states that it is principally due to 

 the action of sulphuretted hydrogen (an assertion which is fre- 

 quently disproved by the cadaveric rigidity) and butyric acid. 



5. Through cardiac syncope, as a consequence of the violence of 

 intestinal pains or of intoxication through phenol, which is pro- 

 duced in greater abundance by abnormal intestinal fermentation. 



1 Semmer : Virchow's Archiv, 1877. 



