484 
PERITONITIS AND ASCITES. 
Towards evening, perceiving that my patient was rapidly sink¬ 
ing from the wearing pain he endured/and that he began to show 
signs of weakness and exhaustion, I had some thick oatmeal 
gruel given to him, through a horn, from time to time. In fact, 
1 had given up all hopes of relieving even (putting every other 
consideration quite out of the question) a malady which owed its 
presence to what had been for some weeks most insidiously creep¬ 
ing on within the abdominal cavity: I therefore resolved to relin¬ 
quish the vessel (I could not save) to its fate, simply standing 
by as a quiet spectator of the wreck; an event that took place at 
one o’clock the next morning. 
ft may be right to add, that, as he approached his end, the 
swelling of the belly and sheath sensibly diminished, and the 
issues were found to be completely dried up. 
Examination of the Body . 
Being prepared for the presence of water, I used more than 
ordinary precautions in laying open the cavity of the belly. No 
sooner were the soft parietes of it (which exhibited a thick layer 
of fat) cut through, than our expectations were found to be 
fully realized: a fluid very like whey in its appearance rose up 
the instant the opening was made, and flowed over the sides in 
such various directions, that much of it was lost before a vessel 
could be introduced to collect it. We measured four gallons and 
a half afterwards, which, with what had escaped, and what 
still filled the pelvis and vacuities about the'spine, altogether 
amounted, in our estimation, to at least six gallons. Small focculi 
of lymph were seen floating in the fluid, and lightly adhering in 
various places to the surface of the intestines. 
The peritoneum evinced itself the seat of disease. The pa¬ 
rietal portion was but little changed in appearance; but the vis¬ 
ceral tunic had become altered in texture, opaque and thickened, 
and showed patches of inflammation of the chronic character: 
thus accounting at once for the water and the paroxysm of suf¬ 
fering which preceded death. 
Most of the medicine was found in the stomach in a state of 
solution ; part of it however was detected in the small intestines. 
The villous coat presented a blush upon its central part. The 
liver was pale clay-coloured, but it appeared to be sound. The 
kidneys contained purulent matter within their infundibula. 
The lungs were redder than usual, and appeared to have sus¬ 
tained some slight agglutination of their reticular texture: other¬ 
wise, they were sound. There was no fluid within the thorax, 
nor any within the pericardium. 
