SPLENIC APOPLEXY. 291 



organ which strikes the examiner as having undergone ma- 

 terial change is the spleen. The spleen of the ox, varying in 

 size from 2 to 3 Ibs., is of a deep red colour, and swollen up 

 to three or four times its natural size. In the sheep the 

 spleen weighs in health from one to two ounces, whereas in 

 splenic apoplexy it weighs from 8 to 16, and even 20 ounces. 

 Sometimes it is ruptured, but in animals that are bled early 

 the spleen is not so much distended. The rumen and other 

 stomachs are usually found healthy, but there is generally red- 

 ness of the true stomach, and extravasations of blood in 

 some part of the intestinal tube. The kidneys are also found 

 of a dark colour, and on cutting through them are seen to be 

 ecchymosed. The bladder is commonly found distended, and 

 its membrane tinged with blood. The thoracic organs are 

 healthy, with the exception of blood spots on the lungs and 

 heart. Not unfrequently there is a considerable quantity of 

 bloody serum in the pericardium. The nervous centres are 

 healthy. Sometimes there are bloody extravasations in the 

 cranium and spinal canal. More frequently there is simple 

 excess of the fluids in the ventricles of the brain and in the 

 arachnoid. 



Treatment Many cases prove fatal, whatever treatment 

 may be adopted. Success has attended the practice of those 

 who have aimed at moving the affected animals rapidly 

 about, dashing cold water on their bodies, and following this 

 up by a full dose of purgative medicine with carbonate of 

 ammonia. In the earliest stage of splenic apoplexy bleeding 

 may be of service. Preventive measures should be resorted 

 to, and those consist of low diet, active exercise, purgatives, 

 and neutral salts in water. 



Animals that die of splenic apoplexy should never be sold 

 as human food. Sometimes their flesh might not injure, but 

 very often it certainly would. 



