CHAPTER LXVI. 



SPOEADIC DISEASES— continued. 



LOCAL J)lSEAS'ES—co7it{nued. 



(P.) DISEASES OF THE LIYEE. 



Diseases of the liver are rare in the domestic animals, with the 

 exception of sheep, which are destroyed sometimes in great 

 numbers by various diseases of the liver, induced by exclusive 

 feeding upon turnips, particularly Swedish turnips, causing a 

 fatty or degenerative condition of the organ ; by stimulating 

 food, long continued, such as the various cakes, inducing con- 

 gestions and softening, and by the invasions of the " distoma " 

 or fluke worms, giving rise to the disease termed " the rot," or 

 of " strongyles," which appear as small bladders throughout the 

 organ, and cause anaemia and death. But neither the horse, ox, 

 nor dog is exempt from hepatic affections. 



CONGESTION OF THE LIVER. 



Under this head three forms are included, namely — 1st. Passive 

 congestion of the hepatic and portal veins, arising from anything 

 which interferes with the circulation of the blood, such as dis- 

 ease of the heart. In my paper on Traumatic Pericarditis, 

 published in the Veterinarian in 1857, I pointed out the co- 

 existence of this condition of the liver. Its occurrence is ex- 

 plained as follows: — In heart diseases there is stagnation of 

 blood in the vena caves and hepatic veins ; in time, as explained 

 by Frerichs, this is propagated to the portal vein, and to the 

 organs from which it takes its origin ; the liver then becomes 

 turgid with blood, and the congestion extends to all the veins 

 of the digestive system. In the same m.anner consolidation of 



