CROUPOUS ENTERITIS: INTESTINAL CROUP. 199 



gum arabic, 10 grammes; distilled water, 10 grammes. To be 

 given in doses of a tablespoonful. 



If there is great weakness and collapse, we may use the following 

 ingredients with advantage : camphor, ether, wine, coffee, caffeine, 

 or hyoscyamus. 



Croupous Enteritis: Intestinal Croup. 



Croupous enteritis is more frequent in animals of the bovine race 

 than our literature seems to indicate. It is rare in the horse, still 

 more uncommon in carnivorous animals, and altogether exceptional 

 in sheep. It is a sporadic disease. In the ox it has always a 

 chronic course ; in other animals it may be observed in the acute 

 and subacute forms. 



Etiology. Its causes are as yet imperfectly understood. The 

 influence of colds has mainly been charged with being the cause of 

 the trouble. The disease is particularly frequent in the spring and 

 fall. Irritating and indigestible alimentary matters have also been 

 accused of having a bad influence, and besides these, hay containing 

 a large number of aromatic plants ; finally, the ingestion of too 

 large quantities of husk may also do harm. It has sometimes been 

 observed in the ox after the administration of certain medicinal 

 agents, drastic purgatives, camphorated alcohol, etc. (Schwanefeldt). 

 In animals of the bovine race, mainly in young subjects which are 

 well nourished, and also in cows in a pregnant condition, there 

 seems to exist a constitutional predisposition to intestinal croup — a 

 predisposition which is said to result from the richness of the blood 

 in albumin and fibrin (Anacker), and which is apparent in other 

 diseases, especially in pulmonary phlegmasia, through the abundance 

 of plastic exudations. The lymphatic condition of the ox has per- 

 haps a certain etiological influence. Constipation, and the accumu- 

 lation of excrementitious matter in the posterior portions of the 

 intestines of the horse ; tapeworms in the dog and cat (Eberth, 

 Bruckmuller) may also provoke croupous enteritis ; but its cause 

 often remains undetermined. 



Pathological anatomy. The alterations are located in the 

 small intestine and colon in the ox ; in the horse they are princi- 

 pally observed in the small intestine. The mucous membrane 

 presents catarrhal or true inflammatory lesions ; it is covered, to a 

 greater or less extent, by croupous membrane, which can easily be 

 removed, and under which the tissue of the mucous membrane is 



