10
cases a soft suppressed cough was present and on one day a discharge of blood
from one or both nostrils was seen ; but unfortunately none of these cases
were post mortemed by me.
39. Essential note on anatomy of large intestine in the camel.—The cœcum
is shaped as in the ox, but the blunt extremity is attached to the mesentery.
It is thin-walled, 2¼ feet long, and there is a number of Peyers' glands about
the ileo-cœcal valve.
The colon is not contained in the same fold of mesentery as the small
intestine like the ox, but forms a mass of its own in the left flank enveloped
in a separate fold of mesentery. It is spirally disposed and there are six
concentric and five excentric coils. The first concentric coil is thin-walled, at
a distance from the rest of the spirals, and attached to the edge of the mesen-
teric fold. The other spirals of the colon then become a compact mass and
the muscular layers of the gut are here well developed ; it is in this part of
the gut that the contents of the bowel lose their watery consistency and emerge
from the spiral in the shape of pellets. After forming this spiral arrange-
ment, the rest of the gut is disposed as in the ox, but this latter part is not
involved in the disease.
The lymph-glands of the spiral mass of the colon are not situated in it,
but high up on the common mesentery near the glands of the ileum and
cœcum.
The first portion of the colon has several Peyers' glands.
40. Lesions.—On opening the abdomen the peritoneal cavity is found full
of watery faeces when rupture of bowel has taken place.
There is diffuse peritonitis which has evidently lasted some time as in some
parts the peritoneum is entirely destroyed. The same peritonitis is found in
cases where the intestine has not ruptured. A tumefied mass the size of a
football represents the colic spirals ; on examination the new tissue is found
to be between the coils of the gut or in other words the coils of the colon run
through the mass ; in some places it is firm, in others gelatinous in consis-
tency ; dry yellowish areas of necrosis are found in it here and there, up to
the size of a walnut.
Near the centre of the spiral the intestine is found to be compressed by
contraction of the new tissue forming a complete strangulation. Posterior to
this, the intestinal mucus membrane is perfectly healthy-looking even though
the coils are completely enveloped in the new tissue, but no fæces are present
in the part.
Anterior to the strangulation the colon which is sometimes ruptured
completely a few inches away is black and quite rotten and tears with the
least pull ; the gangrene and inflammation gradually subside as one traces the
gut forwards to the cœcum, until the gangrene is confined to the Peyers' glands
though sometimes it extends as far anteriorly as to involve the ileum. Duo-
denum and Jejunum are not inflamed.
The above are the essential features of the lesions.
In two cases, in addition, abcesses were found "outside the omasum and
abomasum" but were not present in the case I post mortemed.
The constant feature in fatal cases is the mass of chronic inflammatory
tissue in connection with the colon-mass, and its results, strangulation of the
colon and inflammation and gangrene of the gut anterior to it. Death some-
times occurs without actual rupture.
41. Mortality is apparently near 90 per cent.—One camel thought to
be suffering from the same disease recovered ; it showed similar symptoms,
but the abdominal pain was not so acute and constipation was quite temporary ;
there was a discharge of blood from nose on one day ; it is reasonable to suppose
that this peritonitis may occur sometimes without the formation of new tissue
around the coils of the colon and consequent stricture which is alone respon-
sible for the fatal results in the other cases.
This camel appeared in good health 3 months after symptoms subsided.
42. Treatment.—Cannot be of avail when stricture has occurred ; rational
measures appear to be segregation, burning dung, burning abdominal organs