ucous membrane of the
intestine just beneath the epithelium. It has not been found in the
blood. It produces an intense irritation of the bowel, seldom of the
stomach, without giving rise locally to any marked physical change; it
causes violent diarrhoea and copious discharges of "rice-water" stools,
consisting largely of serum swarming with the organism.

Dysentery gives rise to an inflammation of the large intestine and
sometimes of the lower part of the ileum, resulting in extensive
ulceration and accompanied by faecal discharges of mucus, muco-pus or
blood. In some forms a protozoan, the _Amoeba dysenteriae_, is found in
the stools--this is the amoebic dysentery; in other cases a bacillus,
_Bacillus dysenteriae_, is found--the bacillary dysentery.

Acute parotitis, or mumps, is an infectious disease of the parotid
glands, chiefly interesting because of the association between it and
the testes in males, inflammation of these glands occasionally following
or replacing the affection of the parotids. The causal agent is probably
organismal, but has as yet escaped detection.

New growths.

The relative frequency with which malignant growths occur in the
different organs of the digestive system may be gathered from the
tabular analysis, on p. 266, of 1768 cases recorded in the books of the
Edinburgh Royal Infirmary as having been treated in the medical and
surgical wards between the years 1892 and 1899 inclusive. Of these,
1263, or 71.44%, were males; 505, or 28.56%, females. (See Table I. p.
266.)

If the figures there given be classified upon broader lines, the results
are as given in Table II. p. 266, and speak for themselves.

The digestive organs are peculiarly subject to malignant disease, a
result of the incessant changes from passive to active conditions, and
vice versa, called for by repeated introduction of food; while the
comparative frequency with which different parts are attacked depends,
in part, upon the degree of irritation or changes of function imposed
upon them. Scirrhous, encephaloid and colloid forms of carcinoma occur.
In the stomach and oesophagus the scirrhous form is most common, the
soft encephaloid form coming next. The most common situation for
cancerous growth in the stomach is the pyloric region. Walsh out of 1300
cases found 60.8% near the pylorus, 11.4% over the lesser curvature, and
4.7% more or less over the whole organ. The small intestine is rarely
attacked by cancer; the l