176 SHEEP DISEASES : 



for the purposes of generating heat and muscular energy. 

 Hence, the liver has been described as a " coal bunker " to the 

 body. 



In addition to this function, the liver destroys the used-up red 

 cells of tJie hlood and it is from their colouring matter that the 

 colouring matter (pigment) of the bile, and also of the urine, is 

 mainly obtained. Another important function served by the 

 liver is to prevent the entrance of injurious substances into 

 the circulation — to act, in other words, as a guard to the blood. 

 Thus, the very substances upon which life is largely dependent, 

 viz., the peptones, if taken from the intestines and injected 

 directly into the blood would kill, but by passing through the liver 

 they are not only rendered harmless but useful. In the intes- 

 tines, peculiar poisonous substances (ptomaines) similar to those 

 produced in the decomposition of animal flesh, and from which 

 so many anatomists and others have lost their lives by inocula- 

 tion in dissecting, are constantly being formed ; the liver seizes 

 on these, as it were, and sends them back into the intestines 

 whence they are ultimately got rid of in the dung (faeces). 

 Even that deadly poison with which Indians have for ages 

 poisoned their arrows, known as Curara-Woorara, or the woorali 

 poison, is harmless when swallowed ; and this, it is believed, is due 

 to the guardian function of the liver. 



One substance of importance is found largely in the liver, and 

 acts as a stimulant to it, viz., iron, and when it is given in over- 

 doses, it is believed that the liver returns it to the intestines. 



The cells of the liver after a meal contain large quantities of 

 fatty matter, become infiltrated with it in fact, and if feeding on 

 such matters is persisted in fat takes the place of the normal 

 tissue elements and the organ becomes practically a mass of fat 

 — as seen in the liver (pate de foie gras) of Strasburg geese. 

 Fatty transformation means annihilation of cdl those im- 

 portant functions to which reference has been made. 



No bile is secreted consequently it is lost for digestive 

 purposes, for stimulating the activity of the intestines and for 

 antiseptic purposes ; and it is largely owing to the last fact that 

 purgation takes place in the advanced stages of liver disease — 

 arrest of the secretion of bile leading at the outset to constipa- 

 tion. The opposite condition of softening, i.e. fibroid change, 

 takes place from the action of continued irritation as in sheep 

 and cattle by the fluke worm (in rot) ; and in man, by over- 

 indulgence in spirits, the organ becomes hard, constituting 

 " gin drinker's liver." Moreover, if the liver is not acting 

 poisonous matter is absorbed and produces its deleterious 

 effects on the brain and nervous system generally, as well as 

 upon the blood. 



The Kidneys. — These organs, though small as compared with 



