Treatment. Amyloid Disease of the Liver, 515 



Occasionally fatty livers rupture aud the animals die suddenly as a result of 

 internal hemorrhage. There is sometimes slight abdominal pain (Neyraud). Neale 

 records a number of cases in Shropshire sheep which ended fatally after a sliort 

 illness and in which the only lesion found at the postmortem was extreme fatty infil- 

 tration of the liver. Rupture of the liver is especially frequent in well-nourished 

 fowls and geese (Johne). 



Treatment. The treatment iinist l)e adapted to tlie nature 

 of the case. 



Literature. Johne, S. B., 1879, 49.— Neyraud, J. Vet., 1892, 400.— 'Rievel 

 D. t. W., 1906, 49 (Lit.). 



4. Amyloid Disease of the Liver. Degeneratio amyloidea 



hepatis. 



{Hepar amyloldeum, Amyloidosis hepatis.) 



Etiology. Amyloid degeneration of the liver and other or- 

 gans occurs usually in protracted, exhausting diseases. In the 

 horse, in which animal it is most frequently seen, it occurs in 

 cases of chronic inflammation of the serous membranes, par- 

 ticularly of the pleura. 



As regards the frequency of the condition in the horse, 

 Bold found amyloid liver in 4 per cent of all the horses exam- 

 ined postmortem. Rabe found amyloid degeneration of the 

 liver in practically 50 per cent of horses that had suffered from 

 chronic diseases of the serous membranes. The degeneration 

 also occurs in cases of bronchial catarrh, chronic interstitial 

 pneumonia, glanders and, exceptionally, occlusion of the bile 

 ducts. The observation of E. Noyer and Griiner regarding 

 the special part played by certain infectious diseases in the pro- 

 duction of amyloid liver are very interesting. 



E. Noyer observed amyloid degeneration of the liver followed by rupture of 

 that organ in about 20% of horses used for the production of diphtheria serum. 

 Griiner found amyloid liver in every one of 46 horses that had died from contagious 

 pleuro-pneumonia. On the other hand the very rare occurrence of amyloid liver in 

 the domesticated animals has been recorded by Joest, Pflug, Forster, Paulicky and 

 Hissbach. 



Rabe observed the condition in a bitch in connection with 

 carcinoma of the mamma ; Bruckmiiller, in cattle, as the result 

 of tuberculosis and chronic nephritis, and Ries in lymphan- 

 gioitis. Chronic suppuration, especially when it involves bone, 

 and chronic abscesses may also cause amyloid degeneration. 



Attempts have been made to clear up the etiology of amyloid degeneration by 

 experimental investigation. The first experiments were made by Krawkow, who 

 gave dogs, rabbits, fowls and pigeons repeated subcutaneous inoeculations of cul- 

 tures of the straphylococcus pyogenes aureus. Pronounced amyloid degeneration 

 was produced and especially in the liver. The degeneration was also produced when 

 the chemical substances produced in the cultures were used for the inoeculations, 

 and in one case the systematic introduction into the body of the toxins of the bacillus 

 pyocyaneus was followed by amyloid disease. The experiments were repeated by 



