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DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE APPARATUS. 



DISEASES OF THE PEEITOISTEUM. 



ACUTE PERITONITIS. 



Division. According to the point of view from which we con- 

 sider peritonitis, we may recognize in it numerous and very dififerent 

 varieties. Clinically it presents the acute^ chronic, circumscribed ^ or 

 diffused forms ; according to its origin it is primitive, idiopathic or 

 secondary, traumatic, tuberculous, sarcomatous, carcinomatous, pye- 

 mic, metastatic, septic, etc. ; anatomy distinguishes the dry, exudative 

 serous, sero-fibrinous, purulent, hemorrhagic, ichorouCs peritonitis^ 

 etc. If considered as to pathogenesis, peritonitis is almost always- 

 secondary, and produced by wounds of the serous membrane or by 

 pathological processes which develop in a neighboring organ and 

 finally reach this membrane. The existence of primitive peritonitis 

 à frigore cannot be doubted (rheumatismal peritonitis), but it i& 

 extremely rare in the horse, in which animal rheumatismal colics 

 are, however, quite frequent. 



Affected animals. Acute peritonitis is observed in all ani- 

 mals, including poultry. Females are more frequently affected 

 than males, a difference undoubtedly due to the more extended and 

 intimate relations existing in the former between the genital organs, 

 and the peritoneum. It is more frequent in the cow than in the 

 mare, first on account of the circumstances surrounding gestation,, 

 the puerperal condition, and its complications — phenomena which 

 are repeated more often in the former — but also because of hepatic 

 distomiasis and tuberculosis, affections which are more frequent in 

 the bovine race and are often complicated by peritonitis. The sen- 

 sitiveness of the peritoneum varies considerably with the different- 

 species of animals. The horse is the animal whose peritoneum is. 

 the most sensitive; then come the ruminants (sheep, goat, and ox),, 

 then the carnivora (dog, cat), the omnivora (pig), and lastly the 

 birds. 



Etiology. The causes of acute peritonitis are : 



1. Wounds penetrating the abdomeu, accidental solutions of con- 

 tinuity, surgical traumatism — the laparotomies made in practising^ 

 various operations (herniotomy, puncture of the intestine or of the 

 peritoneum, incision of the rumen, enterotomy, castration of females^ 



