264 IRISH CENTRAL VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 
not until inflammation subsides that you have any excrement 
passed, and then it is in such quantity as to show you it must have 
been shut up in the bowels during the active stage of inflammation. 
Mucous Enteritis . — Inflammation of the mucous membrane lining 
the intestines may be brought on in a great many ways ; all the 
causes of colic will produce it. 
If you give aloes in the last form of enteritis, viz. where we have 
the two external coats affected and not the mucous, it may be thus 
caused. If you give a dose for constipation, and it does not ope- 
rate, it acts as an irritant, and excites inflammation of the mucous 
membrane. 
It may occur in connection with influenza, or any enzootic disease 
of the air passages, through sympathy with the pneumo-gastric or 
parvagum nerve. 
Horses with slack loins often get the disease in the hunting- 
field from excitement. 
Symptoms will depend upon the nature of the case. You must 
inquire into the history, and from that you will arrive at the correct 
mode of treatment. 
If brought on by over-exertion and congested lungs, bleed at 
once, give an antispasmodic, apply warm water to the abdomen, and 
injections. On introducing your hand into the rectum, if you find 
it very warm put a little Tr. Opium in the injections, it will allay 
the irritation in the inflamed parts. 
In this disease you must place your hopes in venesection, calomel, 
and opium, with injections and counter-irritation. 
You have all the symptoms of inflammation of the peritoneal 
coat, but they are not so violent. 
If there exists simple irritation of the mucous membrane, super- 
purgation will be present; that you must allay with a gentle laxa- 
tive and a little Tr. Opium. This form of disease comes under the 
head of diarrhoea, and for me to enter into it would be taking up 
too much of your time. 
Diarrhoea is caused by irritation of the mucous membrane, result- 
ing in the evacuation of liquid faeces ; from this irritation inflam- 
mation and ulceration may follow, then we have dysentery. 
If the pulse becomes softer, more full and less frequent, perspi- 
rations and pain cease, and the bowels begin to act, you may 
expect recovery ; then you must keep your patient on restricted diet 
for several days. 
If the pulse becomes more quick and weak, the extremities 
become cold, the pain ceases, and symptoms of sinking come on, 
you may expect gangrene, and a fatal result ; but you must not 
abandon your patient in despair, for I have seen all these symptoms, 
and on making a post-mortem examination found no trace of gan- 
grene. So this change does not always indicate a morbid condition 
which is necessarily mortal. Then you must give stimulants to 
keep up the vital powers, and prevent death by asthenia. 
If you make a post-mortem examination you will find either the 
small or large intestines heightened in colour, sometimes almost 
