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    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)",
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    "title": "INTERVAL",
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    "verified_text": "interval, a space left between the component parts of a continuous series, a pause in continuous action, a period of time intervening between two other points of time or chronological sequence of events. the lat. _intervallum_, from which the english word has come through the french, originally meant a space between the palisades on a rampart (_vallum_), or between the rampart and the tents of the legionaries. in medical language \"interval\" is used of the intervening periods between attacks or paroxysms of a disease, particularly of the periods of a rational or normal condition of mind sometimes experienced by an insane person, a \"lucid interval\"; this phrase frequently occurs in legal documents from the 13th to the 15th centuries, _non compos mentis sed gaudet lucidis intervallis_. in music \"interval\" expresses the distance in pitch between two or more musical sounds (see music). interval, or more commonly \"intervale,\" is used, particularly in north america, as a geographical term for a low-lying tract of land along the banks of rivers, frequently overflowed by freshets, or more loosely for any low level land shut in by hills. this particular application, as also the form \"intervale,\" is due to a confusion of the termination of the word with \"vale,\" valley. intestacy (lat. _intestatus_, one who has not made a will, from testari, to bear witness), the condition of the property of a person who dies without making a will. here the law of england distinguishes sharply between his real and his personal property. the devolution of the former is regulated by the rules of inheritance (q.v.). the destination of the latter is marked out by the statute of distributions. the proper conditions of a testamentary disposition of property will be found under the heading will. the distribution of an intestate's personal property is carried out under the authority of administrators, whose duties are generally the same as those of executors under a will. administration was until 1857 a matter cognizable by the ecclesiastical courts, and the ordinary was in fact the administrator until the passing of an act of edward iii. for administration upon intestacy (1357). an earlier statute (westminster 2, 1275), directed against the abuses of the system, required the ordinary, instead of applying the residue of the estate to \"pious uses,\" to pay the debts of the intestate. the act of edward iii. went further in providing that \"in case where a man dieth intestate, the ordinaries shall depute of the next and most lawful friends of the dead person intestate to administer his goods,\" with power to sue for debts due to the deceased, and under obligation to pay debts due by him, and to answer to the ordinary like executors in the case of testament. administrators remained on this footing of deputies appointed by the ordinary until the probate act 1857 transferred the jurisdiction in administration of the ecclesiastical courts to the new court of probate. the courts of law having held that by the grant of administration the authority of the ecclesiastical courts was exhausted, the administrator became entitled to the privilege, similar to that formerly enjoyed by the ordinary, of dealing as he pleased with residue of the property. the next of kin of the same degree of relationship to the deceased were thus aggrieved by the preference of the administrator, and it was to remedy this grievance that the statute of distributions 1670/1 was passed. it empowered the ordinary to take a bond from the administrator binding him to make a fair and complete distribution of the property among the next of kin. such distribution is to be in the following manner: one-third to the wife of the intestate, and all the residue by equal portions to and amongst the children, and their representatives if any of such children be dead, exclusive of children who shall have any estate by the settlement of the intestate, or shall be advanced by the intestate in his lifetime by portions equal to the shares allotted to the other children under the distribution. if such advancement should be less than the share of the other children in distribution, then it shall be made equal thereto. but the \"heir-at-law, notwithstanding any land that he shall have by descent or otherwise from the intestate, is to have an equal part in distribution with the rest of the children\" (s 5). by s 6, if there be no children nor any legal representatives of children, one moiety of the property is to be allotted to the wife of the intestate, the residue \"to be distributed equally to any of the next of kindred of the intestate who are equal in degree and those who legally represent them.\" by s 7 there shall \"be no representation admitted among collaterals after brothers' and sisters' children; and in case there be no wife, then all the said estate to be distributed equally to and among the children; and in case there be no child, then to the next of kindred in equal degree of or unto the intestate and their legal representatives as aforesaid, and in no other manner whatsoever.\" for the protection of creditors it is enacted that there shall be no distribution till a full year after the intestate's death, and if any debts should be discovered after distribution, the persons sharing the estate shall refund the amount of the same ratably. with reference to the above rules the following points may be observed: (1) the husband's absolute right to administer his wife's estate is not affected by the act. this was made clear by a later act of the same reign. (the statute of frauds 1677). administration is now granted to the representatives of the husband where he has died without taking out administration to his wife, unless it can be shown that the wife's next of kin are beneficially interested. (2) the widow, in the event of there being no children or next of kin, takes only her half. the other half goes to the crown. the widow's rights, however, have been enlarged by the intestate estates act 1890. by this act where a man dies wholly intestate and without issue, his property, both real and personal, shall, if it does not exceed l500 in net value, belong to his widow absolutely. if the estate exceeds l500 net, the widow is entitled to l500 out of the estate and has a charge for that amount upon the real and personal property of the deceased. (3) the child or children take equally, two-thirds if the widow be alive, and the whole if she be dead. if some of the children be alive and some dead having issue, then such issue will take their parents' share equally among themselves. there has been some difference of opinion as to whether if all the children have predeceased their parent but have left issue, such grandchildren take as between themselves _per stirpes_ as representatives of their parent or _per capita_ as next of kin. thus if a and b predecease their father but a leaves three children and b one, should the property be divided into fourths, or first into moieties and then one moiety subdivided into thirds among a's children and the other moiety be given undivided to b's child? it is now settled that the latter method of distribution is the correct one, and it is thought that this will also apply when only great-grandchildren are alive. (4) the next of kin must be ascertained according to the rules of consanguinity, which are the same in english as in the civil law. degree is calculated from the intestate, through the common ancestor if any, to the kindred. thus from son to father is one degree, to grandfather two degrees, to brother two degrees, to uncle three degrees, and so on. the statute ordains distribution to be made \"to the next of kindred in equal degrees _pro suo cuique jure_, according to the laws in such cases and the rules and limitations hereafter set down.\" equality in degree is therefore not in all cases accompanied by equality in rights of succession. neglecting the cases of wife and children already noticed, the father excludes all other next of kin. so would a mother, in default of a father surviving, but an act of 1685 enacted that in such a case the brothers and sisters, and children of brothers and sisters, of the intestate should share equally with the mother. in the absence of brothers or sisters and their representatives, the mother in the case supposed would take the whole. mothers-in-law and stepmothers are not within the rules of consanguinity. as between a brother and a grandfather who are both in the second degree, preference is given to the brother; but a grandfather, being in the second degree, will exclude an uncle, who is in the third. an uncle and a nephew, both being in the third degree, take together. brothers or sisters of the half blood take equally with brothers and sisters of the whole blood. the rule which prohibits representation after brothers' and sisters' children would, in a case where the next of kin were uncles or nephews, wholly exclude the children of a deceased uncle or nephew. also, as between the son of a brother and the grandson of a brother, the latter would not be admitted by representation. where a brother and the children of a deceased brother are the next of kin, they will take _per stirpes_, i.e. the brother will take one half, and the children of the other brother will take the other half between them. when the next of kin are all children of the deceased brothers or sisters, they will take equally _per capita_. subject to these modifications, the personal property will be divided equally among the next of kin of equal degree, e.g. great-grandfathers would share with uncles or aunts, as being in the third degree. failing next of kin, under these rules, the estate goes to the crown as _ultimus haeres_, a result which is more likely to happen in the case of illegitimate persons than in any other. personal or movable property takes its legal character from the domicile of the owner, and the distribution of an intestate's goods is therefore regulated by the law of the country in which the intestate was domiciled. a domiciled scotsman, for example, dies intestate in england, leaving personal property in england; the administrator appointed by the court of probate will be bound to distribute the property according to the scots rules of succession. in the law of scotland the free movable estate of the intestate is divided amongst the nearest of kin, the full blood excluding the half blood, and neither mother nor maternal relations being originally admitted. the heir of the heritable (i.e. real) property if one of the next of kin must collate with the next of kin if he wishes to share in the movables. proximity of kin is reckoned in the same order as in the case of inheritance. the intestate movable succession act 1855 among other changes allows the issue of a predeceasing next of kin to come in the place of their parent in succession to an intestate, gives the father of an intestate dying without issue one-half of the movable property in preference to brothers and sisters, and to the mother if the father be dead a similar preference to the extent of one-third, and admits brothers and sisters uterine in the absence of brothers and sisters german or consanguinean. in the united states the english statute of distribution has been taken as the basis of the law for the distribution of personal property in intestacy, and its principles have been applied to real property also. \"in a majority of the states the descent of real and personal property is to the same persons and in the same proportions, and the regulation is the same in substance as the english statute of distribution. in georgia the real and personal property of the intestate is considered as altogether of the same nature and upon the same footing.\" there are many states, however, in which the distribution differs materially from the english statute. in illinois the distribution is the same as descent of real property. in alabama the whole goes to the widow if there are no children (_phillips_ v. _lawing_, 1907, 43 southern rep. 494). in many states the husband's share is in all cases like the widow's, as in texas, new york and washington. in pennsylvania he takes an equal share with the children. the statutes of each state of the american union must be consulted, as no general rules can be laid down. as to the right to the intestate's interest in community property in the states where the law of \"community\"--of \"acquets and gains\"--prevails, see inheritance. intestinal obstruction (_ilius_), in surgery, a condition in which the onward passage of the faeces is prevented. it is often associated with phenomena due to strangulation of the gut, leading to gangrene, and with systemic poisoning due to the absorption of toxins, resulting from the decomposition of the retained faeces. intestinal obstruction may be conveniently divided into acute and chronic. _acute intestinal obstruction_ forms one of the most urgent of surgical emergencies. the following are its chief causes: (1) strangulation by bands or adhesions or through apertures; (2) volvulus; (3) the impaction of foreign bodies; (4) acute intussusception; (5) strangulation over a band or acute kinking of the gut; (6) the termination supervening on chronic obstruction; (7) congenital malformations of the intestines. [illustration: fig. 1.--diagram to show how strangulation by a band may take place.] _strangulation by bands or adhesions or through apertures._--these terms are applied to obstruction by constricting bands within the abdomen. these may be the result of the stretching of old inflammatory adhesions, the result of former peritonitis. these bands are commonly situated between different parts of the mesentery or between the mesentery and another organ such as the appendix. two methods of producing strangulation exist; in the first the bowel passes under an arch or loop formed by some short constricting band and cannot return, or if the band is long it may form a noose in which the bowel is strangled (fig. 1); in the second the remains of a foetal structure (meckel's diverticulum) becoming adherent to some other organ may ensnare the intestine in the loop. a coil of intestine may also slip into a hole in the mesentery or omentum or find its way into a pouch of peritoneum, forming what is known as an internal hernia. the onset of symptoms is sudden and abrupt. the patient is seized with acute abdominal pain associated with collapse. the pain is usually referred to the region of the umbilicus; this localization, however, is no guide to the situation of the lesion. vomiting is early and persistent, generally assuming a faecal character between the second and the ninth day. there is no obvious tumour; constipation is present, the abdominal walls are flaccid at first, but if no relief is obtained become tender when peritonitis ensues. this form of obstruction is most frequent in young people, and there is usually a history of previous peritonitis. in cases not treated by operation the average duration is five to seven days, and death takes place from exhaustion or from toxaemia following peritonitis. [illustration: fig. 2.--diagram to show how volvulus may take place.] _volvulus_ means a torsion or twisting of the gut. there are two chief varieties: (1) in which the bowel is twisted upon its mesenteric axis (fig. 2); (2) in which it is wound round another coil of intestine. the sigmoid flexure is the situation in which volvulus most commonly takes place, but it may occur in the caecum and small intestine. when once present, plastic peritonitis fixes the coil in position and the blood supply becomes obstructed. volvulus is generally preceded by a history of chronic constipation. the acute symptoms start abruptly and are similar to those of internal strangulation, but the pain at first is more intermittent in type. there is usually early tenderness over the spot and constipation is absolute. much distress is occasioned by abdominal distension from flatus, which develops with remarkable rapidity. the swelling is localized at first. spontaneous natural cure is unknown, and without surgical interference death is inevitable. _impacted foreign bodies._--gall-stones may cause obstruction when they are of large size. these gall-stones when lodged in the intestine may there be enlarged by subsequent accretion. leichenstern describes such a stone with a circumference of 5 in., and sir f. treves removed from the intestine of an old lady a calculus, the large size of which was due to layers of magnesia, the patient having taken carbonate of magnesia daily for many years. gall-stones may give rise to intermittent sub-acute attacks of incomplete obstruction and finally give rise to an acute attack accompanied by severe pain and vomiting, which is constant and early becomes faecal. the abdomen is soft and flaccid and the affected coil is rarely to be felt. the symptoms vary with the situation of the obstruction and are generally more urgent the nearer to the duodenum. foreign bodies that have been swallowed by accident or otherwise may give rise to obstruction, though extraordinary objects, as knives, coins, pipes, flints, &c. swallowed by jugglers, are known to have passed by rectum without injury. in cases where the foreign body lodges in the intestine the caecum and duodenum are favourite situations for obstruction. in the museum of the royal college of surgeons is a specimen in which the duodenum is blocked by a mass of pins weighing nearly a pound. foreign bodies may remain weeks or months in situ before giving rise to serious symptoms, the progress of the larger substances being marked by temporary obstruction. in a case quoted by duchaussoy the obstructing mass consisted of over 700 cherry stones. the diagnosis of obstruction by foreign bodies has been much simplified since the introduction of the x-rays. enteroliths may themselves cause obstruction. they may consist of masses of indigestible vegetable material matted together with faeces and mucous. in scotland they are frequently found to consist of husks of coarse oatmeal (aenoliths). in thin persons large enteroliths and foreign bodies may be palpable. the symptoms are those similar to obstruction by a large gall-stone. [illustration: fig. 3.--diagram to show how an intussusception takes place.] _acute intussusception_ forms about 30% of all cases of intestinal obstruction, and is the most common variety found in children. more than 50% of the cases are found during the first ten years of life, and half that amount in babies under one year; the large preponderance is in males. by intussusception is meant an invagination or protrusion of a part of the intestine in the lumen of the intestine immediately below it; the lower part of the intestine may be said to have swallowed that immediately above it. the mesentery attached to the upper portion is necessarily dragged in with it. the condition may be seen by referring to the diagram (fig. 3). the invaginated portion is termed the _intussusceptum_, and the lower portion which it enters is known as the _intussuscipiens_. it is to the constriction of the vessels in the entering mesentery and later to their possible complete obstruction that are due the late serious phenomena of intussusception, e.g. gangrene or rupture of the gut. peritonitis also ensues, and by the formation of adhesions between the serous coats of the entering and returning parts leads to irreducibility of the intussusception. a cure occasionally ensues from spontaneous reduction of the invagination, or again permanent stenosis of the intestine may result from the adhesion of the opposed surfaces, or the occurrence of gangrene may lead to perforation of the intestine with acute septic peritonitis. occasionally when there is no perforation adherence takes place between the segments, and the gangrenous portion sloughs off and is discharged by the rectum. the cause of intussusception is said to be violent peristaltic action, however produced. polypoid tumours or masses of worms, or masses of irritating ingesta, are said to lead to its occurrence. x. dolore and r. leriche contend that the primary factor is congenital mobility of the caecum. they state that in 48% of foeti the caecum is mobile in half, fixation gradually going on; while in 8.5% of adults it retains its mobility. they thus endeavour to account for the fact that in 300 collected cases 204 occurred in children less than one year old. intussusception is met with in four chief situations: (a) the ileo-caecal, which is said to be the most frequent, constituting 44% of all cases (treves); (b) the enteric variety, involving the small intestine; (c) the colic form; (d) the ileo-colic, the ileum being invaginated through the ileo-caecal valve. intussusception may be acute or chronic, sometimes lasting intermittently for years. the acute form is the most common. in young children an attack occurs with severe pain, at first paroxysmal but later continuous; vomiting is less early and less continuous than in strangulation by bands, and diarrhoea tenesmus, much straining and the passage of blood mucus from the anus are common. collapse soon supervenes. early in the case the abdomen is but little distended, and in about half the cases a distinct tumour can be felt. in some cases the invaginated gut may be felt protruding through the sphincter. chronic intussusception occurs more frequently in adults than in children; the symptoms may resemble chronic enteritis and be so masked that the nature of the illness remains undiagnosed until an acute attack supervenes, or the patient succumbs to the diarrhoea, vomiting and haemorrhage. _congenital malformations of the intestines._--cases have been recorded in which the small intestine ended in a blind pouch. imperforate anus is a fairly frequent occurrence in young infants, but attention is usually called to the condition. partial strictures of the intestine, if the stricture be not too narrow, may pass unnoticed for years, and final complete obstruction may result from a blockage of the stricture by some foreign substance such as a plug of hard faecal matter or a fruit stone. _treatment of acute intestinal obstruction._--early diagnosis and early laparotomy are essential, and it is important to operate before the patient is poisoned by the absorption of toxins from the bowel. to administer purgatives is worse than useless. of massage and abdominal taxis sir f. treves says: \"these are to be condemned, as they may rupture the already moribund bowel and make effective a threatened perforation. these measures are for the most part feeble excuses for avoiding or delaying the operation.\" the operation may be undertaken in one or two stages, and includes the opening and evacuation of the distended intestines and the search for and reduction or removal of the obstruction. _chronic intestinal obstruction._--the causes of chronic obstruction are very numerous, and may be divided into the following groups: (1) intra-intestinal conditions, i.e. the impaction of foreign bodies and impaction of faeces; (2) affections of the intestinal wall such as stricture, new growths in the intestine, particularly those of a malignant type, adhesions or matting together of the intestines from peritonitis or kinking of the gut from disease of the mesenteric glands; (3) chronic intussusception; (4) compression of the bowel by a tumour or bands developing outside the intestine. of these the commonest are malignant growths and faecal impaction. the general symptoms of chronic obstruction are more or less alike. the patient is attacked with gradually increasing constipation, which may alternate with diarrhoea which is generally set up by the irritation of the retained faeces. in obstruction due to malignant growths the character of the motions is changed, they become scybalous, pipe-like or flattened. the abdomen becomes distended, and at intervals severe symptoms may supervene, consisting of pain and vomiting with complete constipation owing to some temporary complete obstruction. the attacks usually pass off, and relief may be obtained naturally or by the administration of a purgative, but they have a tendency to recur and in malignant disease to increase to complete obstruction. finally a seizure may persist and take on all the characters of an acute attack, and death may supervene from exhaustion, perforation or peritonitis, unless immediately treated. when it arises from simple stricture no tumour is to be felt, but in malignant disease the tumour may be frequently palpated, unless during an acute attack when the abdomen is much distended with gas. _faecal impaction_ is not uncommon in adult females who have suffered from chronic constipation. the common seat of the blockage is in the colon, chiefly in the sigmoid flexure and in the rectum, but it may occur in the caecum. the accumulation may form a doughy tumour which in parts may be nodular and intensely hard. the causes are due to the state of the contents of the bowel itself, to congenital or acquired weakness and diminished expulsive power of the bowel, or to painful affections of the anus, fissures, piles and painful bladder affections. the acute symptoms are always preceded by a prolonged period of malaise; the breath is offensive and the tongue foul, and the temperature may be raised from the absorption of toxins. faecal impaction requires the regular and repeated administration of large enemata, given through a long tube, together with the administration of calomel and belladonna. large impacted masses in the rectum may be broken up and removed by a scoop. _strictures of the intestinal wall._--simple strictures are infrequent, and are dealt with by the operation of lateral anastomosis. they follow dysenteric or tuberculous ulceration or the passage of gall-stones. stricture due to carcinoma of the intestinal wall occurs usually in the old or middle-aged, and the symptoms come on insidiously. as soon as the condition is diagnosed an attempt should be made to remove the tumour if freely movable, or if this is not possible to afford relief by short-circuiting the intestine or by colotomy. _chronic intussusception_ has been frequently mistaken in the diagnosis for rectal polypus, cancer, tuberculous peritonitis, &c. (treves). if diagnosed it may be reduced by inflation with air, but frequently too many adhesions are present for this to be possible, and laparotomy with excision of the mass should be undertaken; the results are said to be very encouraging. compression of the bowel due to a tumour or bands external to the bowel may occasionally give rise to obstruction. an exploratory operation should be undertaken for the excision of the tumour, or the separation of adhesions and release of the bowel, or if the intestines are much matted together by peritonitis an intestinal anastomosis may give relief. obstruction due to paralysis of the muscular coat of the intestine has been described (adynamic obstruction), but its existence is a subject of dispute. (h. l. h.) intestine (lat. _intestinus_, internal, usually in neuter plural _intestina_, from _intus_, within), in anatomy, the lower part of the alimentary canal; in man and mammals divided into the smaller intestine, from the pylorus to the iliocaecal valve, and the larger, reaching from the caecum and colon to the end of the rectum. the word is frequently applied to the whole of the alimentary canal in invertebrates. (see alimentary canal.) intoxication (lat. _toxicare_, _intoxicare_, to smear with poison, _toxicum_, an adaptation of gr. [greek: toxikon], sc. [greek: pharmakon], a poison smeared on arrows; [greek: toxon], bow), poisoning, or the action of poisons, whether of drugs, bacterial products, or other toxic substances, and hence the condition resulting from such poisoning, particularly the disorder of the nervous system produced by excessive drinking of alcohol (see inebriety and drunkenness).",
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