Heart disease and chronic lung disease may be followed by ascites.
"Special Report on Diseases of Cattle"
U.S. Department of Agriculture J.R. Mohler
A fourth, with much difficulty, climbed to the quarter-deck, being loaded with a monstrous ascites, or dropsy, that invaded his chest so much, he could scarce fetch his breath; but his disease being interpreted into fat, occasioned by idleness and excess of eating, he was ordered, with a view to promote perspiration and enlarge his chest, to go aloft immediately.
"The Adventures of Roderick Random"
Tobias Smollett
All kinds of fluid occupying the cavities of the body gravitate towards the most depending part; and therefore, as in the sitting or standing posture, the fluid of ascites falls upon the line P Z, the propriety of giving the patient this position, and of choosing some point within the line P Z, for the place whereat to make the opening, becomes obvious.
"Surgical Anatomy"
Joseph Maclise