Ill 



I.IVK STOCK. 



LIVER, DISEASES OF THK. 



lit 





, and in the army. The etymology of UM name u 



. . ..... it is believed that UM word was borrowed from the 



toVMana, as there U little doubt tluit the aupur's litnui iUelf was. 



LI V K STOCK. The animal* nacnsssry for the stocking and cultiva- 

 Uoaof a Cum. and thoie which are kept on it fr profit, or fr tho 

 Trtp { ,j, clr duns;. ** called the lire stock uf the farm, in coutradia- 

 tiawtion to the dead stock, which oooaisU of the implement* of 

 husbandry and the produo* stored up for use. 



The Ur. rtock oo a tarm murt rry aoooniiug to ctrcumsUnoe*. The 

 uumber of hones or oxen kept for the cultivation of the land and other 

 farming operations ahould be exactly proportioned to the work tu !* 

 * w. notw of the operations will be performed in 



If they are too few. 



their proper time, and the crops will suffer in consequence. If there 

 an too many, the surplus beyond what is strictly required is main- 

 tained out of the profits of the farm. To have the exact number of 

 ...h^.1. which will give the greatest profit is one of the most important 

 [nblsnii which a farmer has to solve : what may be very profitable in 

 one case may be the reverse in another ; and, as a general maxim, it 

 may be laid down, that the fewer mouths he has to feed, unless they 

 produce an evident profit, the less loss he is likely to incur. But this 

 rule admits of many exceptions. It is of great importance, in taking a 

 farm, to calculate the extent of the arable land, so that it can be 

 properly cultivated by a certain number of pairs of hones. It is an, 

 old measure of land to divide it into so many ploughs, that is, so many 

 portions which can be tilled with one plough each. When there are 

 several of these, it is useful to have an odd horse over the usual 

 number required for two or three ploughs, to relieve the others 

 occasionally. The work is thus done more regularly and with greater 

 ease. Where there are two ploughs with two hones each, a fifth horse 

 should be kept, and so in proportion for a greater number. The odd 

 bone will always be found extremely useful, if not indispensable, and 

 the expense of his keep will be amply repaid by the regularity and ease 

 with which the whole work of the farm will be done, and the relief 

 which occasional rest will give to the other hones. 



The other part of the live stock kept on a farm must depend on 

 various circumstances. Where there is good grazing land, the profit 

 on the improvement of the live stock, or their produce, is evident and 

 easily ascertained. But where animals are kept upon artificial food or 

 Catted in stalls, it is often a difficult question to answer, whether there 

 is a profit on their keep or not. In most cases, the manure which 

 their dung and litter afford being considered, there is no logs. If 

 manure could be obtained in sufficient quantities to recruit the land, 

 at a reasonable price, it might often be more advantageous to sell off 

 all the bay and straw of a farm, and to keep only the cattle necessary 

 to till the ground or supply the farmer's family. But this can only be 

 UM case in the immediate neighbourhood of large towns. In the 

 country at a greater distance, manure must be produced on the farm ; 

 and for this purpose live stock must be kept. The management and 

 feeding of live stock is therefore an important part of husbandry, and 

 more skill has been displayed in the selection of profitable stock than 

 in the improvement of tillage. Some men have made great profits by 

 improving the breed of cattle and sheep, by selecting the animals 

 which will fatten most readily, and by feeding them economically. It 

 requires much experience to ascertain what stock is most profitable on 

 different kinds of land and in various situations. Unless very minute 

 account* be kept, the result can never be exactly known. It is not 

 always the beast which brings most money in the market that has been 

 most profitable; and many an animal which has been praised and 

 admired has caused a heavy loss to the feeder. Unless a man breeds 

 the niml. which are to be fatted, he must frequently buy and sell ; 

 and an accurate knowledge of the qualities of live stock and their 

 value, both lean and fat, is indispensable. However honest may be the 

 sslnsnun be may employ, he cannot expect him to feel the same 

 interest in a purchase or sale, for which he is paid his commission, as 

 UM person whoso profit or loss depends on a judicious selection and a 

 good bargain. Every farmer therefore should endeavour to acquire a 

 thorough knowledge of stock, and carefully attend all market* within 

 his reach to watch the fluctuation in the prices. It will generally be 

 found that the principal profit in feeding stock is the manure, and to 

 this the greatest attention should be directed. A little management 

 will often greatly increase both the quantity and quality of this 

 indispensable substance, and make all the difference between a loss and 



profit in the keeping of stock, f MASUHK ] 



I.IVKK. IH.SKASKS (iK THK. The liver is subject to all those 

 Mosul morbid changes which, depending on disordered actions of the 

 blood-vessel*, modification of the nutritive process, or alterations in the 

 blood iUelf, may affect most organised parts of the body ; such are 

 inflammation (hepatitis), acute and chronic ; hypertrophy and atr..|.liy ; 

 induration and softening ; and the different kind of tuinoun or trans- 

 formations of tissue, carcinoma, or cancer, medullary sarcoma, fungus 

 hsms>od<. nvdanosis, and scrofulous tubercle. It is occasionally 

 infested by parasitic animals (hydatids), which may likewise affect 

 other part, of the body. 



But UM liver is also liable to other diseases which appertain to it 

 specially, and arc connected with it* function secretion. The che- 

 mical change* which give rise to the formation of bile in the liver may 

 be so deranged, that one or all of the ingredients of that fluid arc 

 " in quantity, or vitiated in quality, and such 



UM secreting process may manifest itself in several ways : 

 lrfectly funned fluid passing into the intoatines may cause 

 irritation there, and consequently diarrhoea: or bring absorbed into 

 the blood, may produce jaundice and its concomitant symptoms ; or 

 some of the ingredients of the bile may concrete into solid misiind in 

 the ducts of the liver or the gall-bladder, forming gallstones. The 

 diseased state of the liver in which it becomes impregnated with an 

 unnatural quantity of fatty matter may also be reckoned among the 

 dinimnrm appertaining to the special function of the organ, for the bile 

 naturally contains a large proportion of fatty matter (cholesterine) ; 

 though the chemical composition of this unbalance, and that of the 

 oil or fat with which the liver is impregnated in disease, appear to be 

 different. [LIVER, in NAT. HIST. Div.j 



CW/Mli'oN of Ike Liver. The complicated structure of the liver 

 renders it possible for various part* of it* tissues to become congested. 

 Thus there may be congestion from an increased secretion of bile, and 

 in this case the bile duct* are the parts principally affected. Then the 

 hepatic veins, or the portal veins, may be congested, and this U called 

 pamre congestion ; whilst active congestion is said to be present when 

 the arterial capillaries are principally affected. Each of these forms 

 of congestion is attended with peculiar morbid appearances, which 

 have been discovered after death. In these congestions the liver U 

 generally enlarged. In certain states of congestion of the liver, the 

 condition known by the name of nutmeg liver is present. 



The most frequent cause of hepatic congestion is disease of the heart. 

 When obstruction exist* to the circulation, especially on the right side 

 of the heart, the liver is liable to congestion. Such a state is an 

 with dropsical effusion of the abdomen, and also of the general cellular 

 tissue. Temporary congestion of the liver may be also brought about 

 by sudden chills, the cold stages of fevers, the drinking too largely of 

 alcoholic liquors, injudicious feeding, and exposure to the heat of the 

 sun. In congestion the liver is enlarged externally, there is sallowneas 

 of the complexion, the tongue is coated, the bowels constipated, the 

 appetite bad, and there are sickness, vomiting, headache, and general 

 debility. The pulse is slow, compressible, or irregular, or it may be 

 quiet and feeble. 



The treatment of congestion of the liver needs not to be very active. 

 Gentle purgatives and diuretics, with rest, and a restricted diet, are 

 generally sufficient. 



A cute hepatitis, when it exists in a severe degree, is indicated pretty 

 distinctly not only by the general signs of inflammation and symptom- 

 atic fever, such as thirst, heat, and dryness of the skin, increased 

 rapidity of the pulse, 4c., but also by local symptoms, which point 

 more especially to the seat of the disease, namely, pain and tenderness 

 on pressure beneath the ribs on the right side, difficult breathing from 

 the liver being pressed upon by the diaphragm when air is drawn into 

 the lungs, and a short dry cough, dependent either on the extension of 

 the inflammation to the diaphragm, or a sympathetic affection of the 

 part* engaged in respiration. The pain in hepatitis so frequently 

 extends to the right shoulder, that pain in that situation has been 

 considered characteristic of disease of the liver. Vomiting is a common 

 attendant on hepatitis, as on inflammation of most of the abdominal 

 viscera. Another symptom is jaundice, which in this case is a conse- 

 quence of the inflammatory action having disturbed the process by 

 which the components of the bile are formed and separated from thu 

 blood. 



Inflammation of the liver may terminate in suppuration, and the 

 formation of one or more abscesses, which sometimes attain a very 

 large size in this organ, protrude externally, and even bunt and dis- 

 charge their contents through an opening in the skin. 



Acute inflammation may be produced in the liver by any of the 

 influences which give rise to it in other organs ; but while the lungs are 

 more subject to this affection in cold climates, the liver is especially 

 liable to it in hot countries. 



Clirvnic hepatitis is indicated by the presence, in a less violent degree, 

 of many of the symptoms which attend the acute disease. Thus, a 

 dull pain or sense of weight in the right side, with some degree of 

 tenderness in the same situation, pain in tho right shoulder, slight 

 jaundice or sallowneas of the skin, and disorder of the stomach and 

 digestive organs generally, are tho most constant signs. It is frequently 

 difficult to distinguish mere chronic inflammation of the liver without 

 enlargement from some disordered states of the stomach and bowels, 

 which sympathise so much with it, and hence has arisen the popular 

 error of designating any chronic disorder of the digestive organs " a 

 liver complaint" We cannot be surprised at this sympathy between 

 the liver, stomach, and bowels, and other viscera of the abdomen in 

 disease, since we know that they are all engaged in one great function 

 digestion ; and are in the healthy state associated together in tlieir 

 action by a natural sympathy fur the purpose of co-operation in that 

 function. A ntnictur.il result of the chronic inflammation of the li\ er 

 is the deposit of fibrinous matter in its capsular structure, and the 

 production of the diseased state called rirrluaii. This is frequently 

 brought on by the abuse of alcoholic beverages, and has got the name 

 of " gin liver." 



Increased secretion of bile. The function of the liver ii increased by 

 exposure to heat, and there is evidently a relation between the function 

 performed by the lungs and that of the liver. As the foimer in 

 diminished, tie latter is increased. This occurs from exposure to heat, 



