566 THE DISEASES OF THE HORSE 



but keep them in im2-»ure air, and the consequences are impaired function or 

 actual disease of this important organ. 



The exact nature of liver disorders can seldom be ascertained during 

 life, yet treatment is generally successful, blind empiricism it may be called, 

 but the practical horseman will not mind that, if the result is good. 



Si/mptoms. — If the liver fail in its office of pouring bile of a proper 

 quality and of sufficient quantity into the intestinal canal, digestion 

 is interfered with, the fseces are altered in colour and of offensive odour, 

 there is a loss of thriftiness on the part of the animal, the skin loses its 

 bloom and may be hide-bound, and the hairs feel harsh, while constipation 

 may be followed by diarrhoea. A sourness of breath and irregular appetite 

 and increased thirst is observable. The foregoing symptoms may be all due 

 to simple congestion or excessive blood supply, and a dose of calomel and 

 aloes put the matter right. On the other hand, there may be slow but 

 certain degeneration of structure taking place, that can only be arrested in 

 its progress by a return to the natural life of a horse at grass. 



JAUNDICE 



Is commonly spoken of as a special disease of the liver, but it is really 

 one of the symptoms or proofs of liver disease whereby the colouring 

 matter of the bile has been thrown into the general circulation, making its 

 presence easily seen in the mucous membranes, particularly those of the 

 conjunctiv£e. Jaundice may be the result of acute or chi'onic congestion of 

 the liver, of interruption of the gall ducts, or of the common duct (ductus 

 communis collidicus), of cirrhosis or hardening and enlargement of the con- 

 nective tissue between the true liver cells which are thereby squeezed out of 

 existence. Abscesses and other tumours and malignant growths in a few 

 instances account for jaundice. We might summarize for the guidance of 

 the horse-owner, and say that a yellowness of the membranes that dis- 

 appears with physic after a short time is probably but a temporary functional 

 derangement of no serious importance, while a permanent staining of the 

 membranes is indicative of chronic disease, and probably serious degenei'ative 

 changes of structure. 



Treatment. — Change of diet from stimulating food to grass if possible. 

 A summer's run will often do wonders even in cases of long standing, and 

 in which it is almost certain there is structural change. The sound portion 

 of the liver appears to make an effort to do the work of a whole one, and 

 the subject of disease may do much useful work again. The livers both of 

 horses and men one has known during life as comparatively cheerful and 

 liealthy, often show an amount of degeneration which, without experience, 

 one would suppose to be inconsistent with continued existence. Salines in 

 the form of sulphates of magnesia and soda combined with nux vomica may 

 serve to keep a useful horse going, but no medicaments can compare with 

 the beneficial effects of grass keep and pure air. In winter a straw-yard in 

 the country is to be preferred to continued drugging in the stable, as the 

 coldness of the atmosphere does good alike to the liver and legs of a stale 

 town horse. 



