The Gall-Bladder.—The formation of biliary calculi in the gall-bladder is the chief point of interest here. At least 75% of such cases occur in women, especially in those who have borne children. Tight-lacing has been stated to act as an exciting cause, owing to the consequent retardation of the flow of bile. Gall-stones may number from one to many thousands. They are largely composed of cholesterin, combined with small amounts of bile-pigments and acids, lime and magnesium salts. Their presence may give rise to no symptoms, or may cause violent biliary colic, and, if the bile-stream be obstructed, to jaundice. Inflammatory processes may be initiated in the gall-bladder or the bile-ducts, catarrhal or suppurative in character.
The Pancreas.—Haemorrhages into the body of the pancreas, acute and chronic inflammation, calculi, cysts and tumours, among which cancer is by far the most common, are recognized as occurring in this organ; the point of greatest interest regarding them lies in the relations established between pancreatic disease and diabetes mellitus, affections of the gland frequently being complicated by, and probably causing, the appearance of sugar in the urine.
The Small Intestine.—Little remains to be added to the account of inflammatory lesions in connexion with the small intestine. It offers but few conditions peculiar to itself, save in typhoid fever, and the ease with which it contrives to become kinked, or intussuscepted, producing obstruction, or to take part in hernial protrusions. The first section, the duodenum, is subject to development of ulcers very similar to those of the gastric mucous membrane. For long duodenal ulceration has been regarded as a complication of extensive burns of the skin, but the relationship between them has not yet been quite satisfactorily explained. The condition of colic in the bowel usually arises from overdistension of some part of the small gut with gas, the frequent sharp turns of the gut facilitating temporary closure of its lumen by pressure of the dilated gut near a curve against the part beyond. In the large bowel accumulations of gas seldom cause such acute symptoms, having a readier exit.
The Large Intestine.—The colon, especially the ascending portion, may become immensely dilated, usually after prolonged constipation and paralysis of the gut; occasionally the condition is congenital. Straining efforts made in defaecation may often account for prolapse of the lower end of the rectum through the anus. Haemorrhage from the bowel is usually a sign of disease situated in the large intestine: if bright in colour, the source is probably low down; if dark, from the caecum or from above the ileo-caecal valve. Blood after a short stay in any section of the alimentary canal darkens, and eventually becomes almost black in colour.
(A. L. G.; M. F.*)
DIGGES, WEST (1720-1786), English actor, made his first stage appearance in Dublin in 1749 as Jaffier in Venice Preserved; and both there and in Edinburgh until 1764 he acted in many tragic rôles with success. He was the original “young Norval” in Home’s Douglas (1756). His first London appearance was as Cato in the Haymarket in 1777, and he afterwards played Lear, Macbeth, Shylock and Wolsey. In 1881 he returned to Dublin and retired in 1784.
DIGIT (Lat. digitus, finger), literally a finger or toe, and so used to mean, from counting on the fingers, a single numeral, or, from measuring, a finger’s breadth. In astronomy a digit is the twelfth part of the diameter of the sun or moon; it is used to express the magnitude of an eclipse.