724 SPORADIC DISEASES. 



traces of Repeated attacks of congestion, indicated by various 

 differences in colour and in the consistence of the hepatic 

 textures, are not unfrequently present without there having been 

 any manifestation of symptoms during life, beyond occasional 

 loss of appetite, and perhaps a little dulness. Now and then, 

 however, the following symptoms are observable : — Abdominal 

 pain, the animal looking to the right side ; yellowness of the 

 mucous membrane ; high brownish colour of the urine ; con- 

 stipation of the bowels ; the fseces sometimes of a clay colour 

 and foetid, with a sour, acid, or even offensive condition of the 

 mouth ; grinding of the teeth ; a desire to eat earthy substances, 

 or lick the walls ; and in very rare instances pain, manifested 

 by lameness in the off (right) shoulder, with varying degrees of 

 febrile disturbance. 



Treatment. — Bearing in mind that the engorgement may be- 

 come so excessive as to cause rupture of both gland and capsule, 

 practitioners must abstract such a quantity of blood as the 

 character and nature of the pulse will warrant ; so long as the 

 artery is round, the pulsation distinct— no matter how severe 

 the seeming dejection and debility may be — a free abstraction of 

 blood will be succeeded by amelioration of the symptoms, as 

 they are but consequences of the state of hyperaemia, the removal 

 of which being of paramount importance. 



With regard to medicine, cathartics, followed by neutral salts, 

 as the sulphate of magnesia, cause a drain from the portal 

 system, and thus relieve the congestion. In the dog, elaterium 

 has a special effect, by causing watery stools. A recurrence 

 of the congestion is to be prevented by a restricted diet and 

 regular exercise. 



The tliird form of congestion is that due to engorgement with 

 bile, arising from obstruction, parasites in the ducts, or inflam- 

 mation of their mucous membrane, by which their calibre be- 

 comes diminished, and the flow of bile consequently arrested. 

 This condition is associated w4th epizootic diseases, and is termed 

 by some veterinarians " bilious influenza," and is characterised 

 by yellowness of the visible mucous membranes and high- 

 coloured urine, with the symptoms of the epizootic from which 

 the animals suffer. 



The treatment of this form calls for no special comment, except 

 that the administration of the so-called liver stimulants, as 



