CHAPTER VII 



Diseases of the Liver 



A LARGE number of diseases of the liver are described by 

 writers on this subject. In the great majority of these 

 diseases there are no external symptoms by which one can 

 be told from another. The most common diseases which 

 affect the liver may, for the moment, be divided into two 

 rough classes which it is highly important for the poultry- 

 man to distinguish. These again can only be distinguished 

 in dead birds, but the occurrence of cases of either kind in 

 any number gives the poultryman a clew as to what the 

 trouble may be and a chance to correct it. In the first of 

 these two classes a post-mortem examination shows the 

 liver covered with nodules of a cheesy-like appearance when 

 opened. These nodules occur not only in the liver, but also 

 in the spleen, intestine and other organs and sometimes in 

 these latter regions without affecting the liver at all. With 

 such symptoms we may be fairly certain that the trouble is 

 tuberculosis and for a further discussion of this the reader 

 is referred to Chapter IX. 



In the second class of these diseases the liver is usually 

 greatly enlarged, although in some cases it is shrunken and 

 smaller than normal. With some of these diseases the liver 

 may be spotted or marbled, but the condition is quite dif- 

 ferent from the cheesy nodules found in tuberculosis. 



It is to this second class of diseases that the name "liver 

 disease" properly belongs. "Liver disease" as popularly 



87 



