k PECULIAK TO HOESES. ^^ 



ENLARGEMENT OF THE SPLEEN. 



A short time ago I visited a black gelding, aged nine years ; he 

 had shown some symptoms of illness for several days, being rather 

 dull and weak in his legs. 



On examination the following symptoms were noticed: pulse quite 

 feeble; respiration natural; tongixe coated with a brown secretion; 

 mouth hot, and a foetid odor from the same is perceptible; the visi- 

 ble surfaces of the mouth are pale, yet have a yellow tinge ; the 

 nasal membranes are of a leaden hue ; the head droops and the tips 

 of the ears are chilly; the patient is rather unwilling to move, and 

 when urged to do so, exhibits a staggering gait ; the bowels are lax 

 (the excrement appearing like cow manure,) and the owner of the 

 animal informs me that the urine is scanty and dark colored. 



Percussion over the region of the liver (on the right side,) elicits 

 an unusual dull sound, indicative of a diseased liver ; on percussing 

 the left side in the region of the spleen, a solid sound is elicited, 

 and an evident enlargement of the spleen is perceptible. 



Twelve hours after this examination the animal died. 



Record op the Autopsy. — On opening the abdominal cavity, 

 the spleen was found to occupy a very large space ; it was of im- 

 mense proportions, and weighed nearly twelve pounds {the ordinary 

 weight is three pounds) ; it presented the appearance of a spleen in 

 the chronic stage of disease — excessively enlarged and altered in 

 structure; it was of a pitchy black color, and was surcharged with 

 blood. 



The liver appeared to be much enlarged, hardened, and discolored, 

 and on cutting into it, various small tubercular deposits were ex- 

 posed ; all the other organs appeared to be healthy. A case of this 

 kind is always beyond the reach of art — incurable. 



Remarks ok the Spleex. — The spleen, known to butchers as 

 the milt or inelt^ is a spongy substance, located on the left side, be- 

 tween the stomach and the false ribs. It presents a blue mottled 

 appearance externally ; internally, it is dark colored. 



Its internal surface is concave, by which arrangement it is per- 

 fectly adapted to occupy a locality of the stomach which in form is 

 convex. 



The spleen, like other organs within the abdomen, receives a cov- 

 ering from the peritoneum, and when this covering is stripped off, 

 we discover a body soft, lacerable and spongy. 



It is supposed that the spleen does not perform any secretory 

 function, and physiologists have hitherto failed in detecting any 

 excretory vessel, or duct. In these respects it differs from all other 

 glands of the body ; in fact, having neither secretory nor excretory 

 vessels, it cannot, with propriety, be classed as a gland. 



The anatomy of the spleen is as follows : It is furnished with 

 arteries, from the cseliac ; the easliac terminates in the splenic, and 

 the splenic furnishes the spleen with blood (the " caeliac" arises from 

 the abdominal aorta) ; and these arteries, after being dispersed within 

 the substance of the spleen, find innumerable ramifications, and 

 ultimately terminate in cells of a membranous character ; from this 



