334 DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE APPABATUS. 



bumin. In addition, it is not without some danger ; whilst inof- 

 fensive by itself in most cases, it may lead to a fatal result when 

 the animals make violent motions during the operation and try to 

 escape it, and when the abdomen is emptied too rapidly, life may 

 also be cut short by syncope or cerebral paralysis. 



In young dogs paracentesis will often give good results ; we have 

 frequently obtained a cure after one puncture only. 



Injection of LugoFs solution of iodine as an accompaniment to 

 the operation is not to be made in cases where the ascites is symp- 

 tomatic of a degenerative alteration of the peritoneum. 



Hemorrhage of the peritoneum. Peritoneal hemorrhage 

 is never primary. It is caused either by a traumatic lesion of the 

 abdominal walls, or of one of the abdominal organs, or by a general 

 affection (anthrax, bovine pest, purpura hœmorrhagica). Under 

 the title of hemorrhagic irritation of the peritoneum, the liver, and the 

 spleen, Roche Lubin ^ has described an affection which he observed 

 in lambs in an enzootic form, in the Department of Aveyron, and 

 which Labat looked upon as an enzootic of purpura hœmorrhagica. 



Neoplasms. Tumors of the peritoneum are primary (fibroma, 

 lipoma, cysts, dermoid cysts), or secondary (tubercles, cancers, mela- 

 noma). They are developed upon the true serous membrane or 

 upon its appendages (mesentery, omentum). Whether solitary or 

 multiple, isolated or confluent, they are very variable in their phy- 

 sical characters. Under the name of foreign bodies of the perito- 

 neum, round or ovoid neoformations have been designated, which 

 are free in the peritoneal cavity (Arloiug) or fixed upon the serous 

 membrane by fibrinous ligaments or by a pedicle which may be 

 thirty centimetres long (Goubaux). Mostly developed under the 

 peritoneum, they raise this membrane, which soon forms a complete 

 envelope and becomes prolonged in the form of a pedicle; when 

 this becomes used up through the friction which it suffers from con- 

 tact with the intestine, the body which it sustained becomes free 

 in the abdomen (Delafond). These neoplasms are formed by an 

 external connective or fibrinous tissue covering and by a central 

 adipose, fibrous, caseous, or calcareous mass. Those possessing long 

 pedicles may become twisted around the intestine and cause its 

 strangulation. 



Parasites. The parasites which are found on the peritoneum 

 belong to the class of helminths, or worms. They are : 



1 Roche Lubin : Recueil Vét., 1848. 



