INFLAMMATION OF BILE-DUCTS 579 



scrubbed with a disinfectant solution, and all instruments intended 

 for use should be sterilized by boiling. 



In the active medicinal treatment, if the case be seen early, it is 

 advisable to administer a good dose of calomel, giving about 10 

 or 15 gr. This should be followed by the administration of about 

 4 ounces of castor oil. As a further aid in cleaning out the bowel 

 rectal injections of hot soap-suds may be used. 



For the pain, large doses of tincture of opium is the indicated 

 remedy. This may be given in teaspoonful doses, repeated every 

 two or three hours as needed. The animal should be allowed only 

 a Hquid and light slop diet and should be kept in warm, comfort- 

 able quarters. 



INFLAMMATION OF BILE-DUCTS (JAUNDICE) 



Jaundice, or yellows, as it is sometimes called, cannot be re- 

 garded as a separate disease, but occurs rather as a symptom of 

 other diseases. In most cases the condition is one of inflammation 

 of the liver or of the bile-ducts which carry the bile from the liver 

 to the bowel. 



Causes. — In the hog as well as in man jaundice may frequently 

 occur as the result of stones in the gall-bladder. Gall-stones are 

 by no means rare in the hog, and I have seen large numbers of them 

 on postmortem in meat-inspection work. One very interesting 

 specimen is to be seen in the museum of the Terre Haute Veteri- 

 nary College, in which a concretion is formed which fills the 

 entire gall-bladder. The cause for formation of these stones 

 in the bile-passages is unknown, but it is believed to be largely 

 due to over feeding, lack of exercise, lack of fluid in the diet, 

 and the migration of bacteria up into the bile-passages from the 

 intestines. 



Jaundice may also occur as a result of infestation of the liver 

 and bile-ducts by liver-flukes. These parasites, by their size and 

 number, block up the bile-passages and cause a stasis of the bile in 

 the liver. As a result, it is absorbed into the blood-stream and 

 carried all over the body. Liver-flukes are not so common, how- 

 ever, in this country as they are in Europe. 



Inflammation of the small bowel often causes jaundice by clos- 

 ing the opening of the large bile-duct into the intestine and shutting 



