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DIARRHCEAS OR “ SCOURS ” OF NURSLINGS. 
Third. —Ignorance of predisposing causes, and the patho¬ 
logical changes induced; and t 
Fourth. —Imperfect understanding of therapeutics due to 
the second and third of these propositions, and of the chemico- 
physiological changes induced by both the disease and the 
remedies employed, with consequent improper care and treat¬ 
ment. 
WHAT IS “SCOURING?” 
Diarrhoea, from a general standpoint, may be considered 
as simple, inflammatory or acute, and organic : Simple, when 
the alvine evacuations are frequent, loose or liquid, without 
admixture of sanguineous products, and not dependent upon, 
or aggravated by, co-existent inflammation. Inflammatory or 
Acute, when due to excessive irritation leading to diffused 
inflammation accompanied by serous or sanguinolent exuda¬ 
tion, threatening extension and exhaustion. Organic, when 
dependent upon morbid conditions of the primes vice and ac¬ 
companied by manifest structural changes. This classification, 
which is somewhat arbitrary, is made as a matter of simplicity 
and convenience. 
The diarrhoeas of which I propose to treat are either 
simple or acute, and depend upon changes occurring in the 
economy of the stomach and small intestine ; for in nursing 
creatures the larger bowel is never involved save perhaps 
through extension, being chiefly a convenience serving little 
purpose save as an escape for effete matters. Further, fluxes 
dependent upon changes in the colon and coecum are rarely 
of local significance, but referable to structural degeneration 
and changes in other portions of the economy, and super-im¬ 
posed by inflammatory exudations of the lesser bowels—as in 
tuberculosis mesenterica, for instance. 
Diarrhoea may arise from : First .—Indigestion and non¬ 
assimilation, proceeding later to exhaustion and debility. 
Second. — a —Absorbtion of poisonous and unhealthy gases 
(miasm), improper stabling, etc. b —Foul water supply fur¬ 
nished the parent, c —Microbes or ptomaines introduced 
from without, or spontaneously developed within the economy 
