DISEASES OF THE PERITONEUM, 



325 



abscesses in the thickness of the abdominal walls, etc.). When 

 weakness is excessive it is advisable to resort to subcutaneous 

 injections of camphor. 



CHRONIC PERITONITIS. 



Etiology. Generalized chronic peritonitis is much less frequent 

 than acute peritonitis ; it is most often observed in the ox. Some- 

 times it succeeds acute peritonitis, at other times it arises directly. 

 Chronic inflammation of the peritoneum in the ox is almost always 

 determined by foreign bodies of the stomach ; in the dog it is ordi- 

 narily the consequence of repeated punctures made to counteract 

 ascites ; it may complicate the phlegmasic processes which develop 

 in the different organs covered by the peritoneum in all animals 

 (uterus, kidney, liver, etc.). Finally, it is sometimes a simple acci- 

 dent of an infectious or diathetic disease ; it is thus that chronic 

 peritonitis is found to be sarcomatous, carGinomatous (the first in 

 the ox and pig, the second in the horse). We shall treat this 

 trouble according to its different phases. 



Pathological anatomy. In most cases the anatomical altera- 

 tions of chronic peritonitis are localized upon one part of the serous 

 membrane (perihepatitis, perimetritis, etc ) ; they are mainly formed 

 by a hyperplasia of the peritoneal connective tissue, which fre- 

 quently produces vegetations, considerable thickenings of this mem- 

 brane, or true fibrinous pouches surrounding certain organs ; these 

 neoformations form sometimes tendinous bands or callous, carti- 

 laginous, or bony spots. Besides these lesions we find adhesion of 

 the organs one to another, or to the abdominal walls — a condition 

 which is accompanied by tractions, compressions, or contractions. 



In this " deforming ^' peritonitis, which is the most typical, and 

 in tuberculous and infectious peritonitis (caseous enteritis of the 

 pig), the joined intestinal loops form balls, the interstices of which 

 are ordinarily filled with a purulent, gelatinous, oily mass, an exu- 

 date, which later undergoes a caseous transformation and calcareous 

 infiltration.^ Chronic peritonitis with abundant liquid exudate is 

 rare. Friedberger has, however, found an abundant liquid exudate 

 in the sarcomatous peritonitis of the horse. 



Symptoms. In general, the symptoms are similar to those of 

 acute peritonitis, but their intensity is much less ; thus the diagnosis 



1 Steiner : Magazin, 1836 (observation upon the ox). 



