446 DISEASES OF THE LIVER AND SPLEEN. 



their bodies, become the especial subjects of this lesion. In 

 a very interesting communication on the matter from Mr. 

 Siddall, V.S., Royal Horse Guards, he writes, "it has only 

 occurred to me once to see a horse with this so young as 

 seven years old/^ Mr. Wright, V.S., Brighton, observes of 

 this disorder — " The most striking point of coincidence in 

 all the cases of this disease that have ever been brought under 

 my notice, is, its invariably appearing in horses of the same 

 temperament and habits.^'^ 



Mr. Greening, V.S., Brixton, relates a case, in the Vete- 

 rinarian for 1851, of a " bus horse,^^ who died from ruptured 

 liver at six years of age. 



Pathology. — The age and habits and condition of horses 

 found disposed to this accident are such as to conduce to, and 

 would indeed indicate, some morbid condition of the liver. 

 There are two states, and very different ones, in which the 

 ruptured gland has been found : a state of congestion gorged 

 with blood ; and a pale, clay-coloured, softened, disorganized, 

 fragile condition of it. D^Arboval and other French writers 

 make most mention of the former ; most British veterinarians 

 describe the latter. In either case, the gland is in a state 

 exceeding prone to burst or rupture upon application of 

 any exciting cause. And we can very well imagine how 

 the gland has come into such a condition when we come to 

 consider the age and habits of life of the subject of it, and 

 compare him with other animals placed under similar circum- 

 stances. The stall-fed ox being so subject to disease of 

 liver, is it not reasonable to suppose the horse stall-fed should 

 be disposed to similar disorders ? In very many of these 

 cases, chronic disease in the liver appears to have prevailed for 

 many years without at all disturbing the usual sound health 

 of the horse. And this seems to proceed to a certain point from 

 interstitial effusion and distension ; when, in its hypertrophic 

 and rotten condition, the gland bursts at some part, and blood 

 becomes extravasated underneath the peritoneum, bursting 

 at length its network, which is immediately followed by 

 haemorrhage into the abdominal cavity ; sparing, perhaps, at 

 • ' Veterinarian/ vol. xix, p. 39. 



