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DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE APPARATUS. 



found injected, soft, friable, and infiltrated with blood or pus. In 

 the ox the croupous membranes are at times disposed in layers more 

 or less thick, at other times they are tubular or cylindrical ; they 

 may be mixed with or free from alimentary matters ; finally, they 

 are sometimes found stratified, formed by several superposed layers 

 or by tubes fitting into one another, and between which are found 

 alimentary matters. Their length and calibre are most variable ; 

 some of them may measure as much as thirty feet. Microscopic 

 study of these membranes has demoustrated their amorphous struc- 

 ture. They are formed of a fibrinous substance, containing epi- 

 thelial cells undergoing fatty degeneration and numerous white 

 globules. The intestinal contents are exclusively formed of croup- 

 ous membranes, or of a mixture of these membranes and of fetid 

 liquid of bad aspect. The tube- shaped glands of the mucous 

 membrane are filled up with a fibrinous exudate. 



Symptoms. In the ox the manifestations of intestinal croup 

 are much less pronounced than in those of other forms of enteritis. 

 The characteristic symptom of the disease — the expulsion of the 

 croupous membranes — appears after a certain period. At the onset 

 we observe symptoms of intestinal catarrh or of chronic enteritis ; 

 disturbance of the appetite and rumination, light colics, constipa- 

 tion, and a moderate fever. Within a few days diarrhea sets in; 

 the patients expel very liquid excrements of a grayish color and fetid, 

 containing fibrinous portions, which are infiltrated with blood or 

 pus. This diarrhea almost always leads to an improvement, and 

 the case then gradually shapes itself toward a cure. The ordinary 

 duration of the affection is from six to eight days. Festal observed 

 a croupous enteritis in the ox which started with colic, an obstinate 

 constipation, intense fever, and great depression ; the pains then 

 ceased, and croupous neoformations were expelled, while constipa- 

 tion persisted. On the sixth or seventh day a fetid diarrhea fol- 

 lowed the costiveness. In the majority of cases the disease takes 

 the course of recovery ; in others the symptoms become aggravated, 

 an extreme weakness sets in, and a subacute peritonitis takes off 

 the affected animal. The duration of this affection varies from 

 eight to twenty days. 



In the horse croupous enteritis is often announced by symptoms 

 of chronic colic ; Prietsch has detected rabiform phenomena. The 

 colics are sometimes absent, and the disease develops with all the 

 appearances of a febrile intestinal affection ; there are expulsions 



