DISEASES OF THE OX AND SHEEP. 545 



and by the medium of its neck or short duct it communicates 

 with the biliary duct itself. Moreover, in the ox this short 

 canal, known as the biliary duct, does not join with the duct 

 leading from the pancreas as it does, for instance, in ourselves ; 

 but, on the contrary, it opens separately into the first portion of 

 the intestines called the duodenum at a spot about two feet 

 distant from the pylorus (the orifice of the stomach which leads 

 to the small intestine). The gall-bladder of the ox is capable of 

 containing several fluid ounces, and its duct (called the cystic 

 duct) increases in size somewhat after its commencement. The 

 bile stored up in the gall-bladder is liable to become inspissated, 

 and to form biliary calculi, which consist of the bile salts, of 

 pigment and cholesterin, are of about the average size of a 

 walnut, and have so low a specific gravity as to float, if placed 

 on the surface of bile. There may be a great number of them. 

 During their passage through the central portion of the cystic 

 duct and the terminal part of the bile duct, they cause excru- 

 ciating agony, owing to the spasmodic contraction of the 

 muscular fibres of the walls of the ducts. These pains may be 

 inferred to be distinct from the pains of colic by the occurrence 

 of some biliary calculi in the feces. A case of rupture of the 

 gall-bladder has been recorded by Mollereau. 



The blood which comes from the organs contained in the 

 abdomen is collected together into one estuary, so to speak, by 

 being conducted into a large vein, called the vena portaSy by 

 means of which it is passed through the liver. Certain materials 

 are abstracted by this organ, which, if allowed to accumulate 

 in the blood, would cause disease. The bile may, therefore, be 

 considered to be at once an excretion and a secretion, inasmuch 

 as not only would the materials which compose it be productive 

 of harm, if they still remained in the blood, but in addition to 

 this the fluid aids the digestion of the fatty matter of the food. 

 The bile is capable of dissolving fatty matters, and indeed an 

 illustration of this is readily supplied by the well-known fact 

 that ox-gall is capable of dissolving and removing spots of 

 grease. 



The most important disorder of the liver is ordinarily known 

 under the name of jaundice or the yellows, and also as hepatitis, 

 or inflammation of the liver. 



Now both oxen and sheep are more frequently subjected to 



35 



