DISEASES OF THE LIVER 305 



arises. If we have been led to suspect a condition of congestion of the 

 liver owing to dietetic errors, we shall first require to unload the bowels 

 by means of an aperient dose of aloes, and then readjust the daily allow- 

 ance of food, and afterwards submit the patient to a course of salines. 

 Here the sulphates of magnesia and soda may be given, either separately 

 or combined, in doses of two ounces in the morning, in the hope of 

 restoring function and directing the bile into its proper channel. We may 

 further assist the digestive function by providing bile in the form of ox- 

 gall, administered in the form of balls with oatmeal, or the meal of linseed 

 from which the oil has been pressed. The general health should, as far 

 as practicable, be sustained by judicious exercise, ample clothing, friction 

 to the skin, and the administration of vegetable tonics, with which may 

 be combined a small dose of nitrate of potash and common salt, to be 

 given in the food morning and evening. With a decreasing quantity of 

 bile in the urine the mineral acids will be found to hasten convalescence. 

 Animals having once suffered from this disorder should be carefully dieted, 

 guarded against excessive fatigue, and protected from exposure to easterly 

 and north-easterly winds. Four ounces of sulphate of magnesia, given in 

 the food occasionally, will assist in maintaining the normal activity of the 

 liver and in warding off another attack. 



HEPATITIS (Inflammation of the Liver) 



Inflammation of the liver may assume an acute or a chronic form. In 

 the former it usually results in the development of one or more abscesses, 

 while in the latter it brings about general enlargement and hardening of 

 the organ, and ultimately contraction and abnormal reduction of size. 



ACUTE HEPATITIS 



This disease is of rare occurrence in the adult horse, and more prevalent 

 in tropical climates than in Europe. 



The reason for this difference is no doubt to be found in the much- 

 higher temperature to which horses are exposed in the one as compared 

 with the other. 



In foals it is by no means rare in this country as the result of causes 

 presently to be referred to. 



Besides the causes named, inflammation of the liver may also arise from 

 external violence, as from a blow over the region of the organ ; and there 

 can be no doubt that in rare instances it also follows upon exposure to 

 cold, especially in animals which occupy warm stables and are overfed and 

 underworked. 



