SECT. XXX. i. 6. OF THE LIVER. 275 



the body, or receptacle of each gland, becomes inflated, and this 

 diftention increafes, till by its very great ftimulus inflammation is 

 produced, or till thofe parts of the vifcus become totally para- 

 lytic. This difeafe is diftinguifhable from the foregoing by the 

 palpable hardnefs or largenefs of the liver; and as the hepatic 

 glands are not totally paralytic, or the whole liver not affefted, 

 fome bile continues to be made. The inflammations of this 

 vifcus, confequent to the fcirrhofity of it, belong to the difeafes 

 of the fenfitive motions, and will be treated of hereafter. 



6. The ancients are faid to have poflefied an art of increafing 

 the livers of geefe to a fize greater than the remainder of the 

 goofe. Martial. 1. 13. epig. 58. This is faid to have been done 

 by fat and figs. Horace. 1. 2. fat. 8. Juvenal fets thefe large 

 livers before an epicure as a great rarity. Sat. 5. 1. 114; and 

 Perfius, fat. 6. 1. 71. Pliny fays thefe large goofe-livers were 

 foaked in mulled milk, that is, I fuppofe milk mixed with honey 

 and wine ; and adds, " that it is uncertain whether Scipio 

 Metellus, of confular dignity, or M. Seftius, a Roman knight, 

 was the great difcoverer of this excellent di(h." A modern 

 traveller, I believe Mr. Brydone, aflerts that the art of enlarging 

 the livers of geefe ftill exiits in Sicily ; and it is to be lamented 

 that he did not import it into his native county, as fome method 

 of affe&ing the human liver might perhaps have been collected 

 from it ; befides the honor he might have acquired in improving 

 our giblet pies. 



Our wifer caupones, I am told, know how to fatten their 

 fowls, as well as their geefe, for the London markets, by mix- 

 ing gin, inftead of figs and fat with their food ; by fohich they 

 are faid to become fleepy, and to fatten apace, and probably ac- 

 quire enlarged livers ; as the fwine are aflerted to do, which arc 

 fed on the fediments of barrels in the diflilleries ; and which fo 

 frequently obtains in thofe, who ingurgitate much ale, or wine, 

 or drams. 



II. The irritative difeafes of the kidneys, pancreas, fpleen, 

 and other glands, are analagous to thofe of the liver above de- 

 icribed, differing only in the confequences attending their ina- 

 bility to adlion. For inftance, when the fecretory veflels of the 

 kidneys become difobedient to the ftimulus of the palling cur- 

 rent of blood, no urine is feparated or produced by them ; their 

 excretory mouths become filled with concreted mucus, or cal- 

 culous matter, and in eight or ten days (tupor and death fuper- 

 vene in confequence of the retention of the feculent part of the 

 blood. 



This difeafe in a flighter degree, or when only a part of the 

 kidney is affeded, is fucceeded by partial inflammation of the 



kidney 



