328 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

 DISEASES OF THE LIVER, URINARY ORGANS, ETC. 



The purpose which the liver subserves in the animal econ- 

 omy is an important one, and upon the projper discharge of 

 the functions of this organ the health of any animal is 

 largely dependent. It is in the liver that the bile is elimi- 

 nated from the blood, and hence this viscus is considered a 

 I gland, by far the largest one in the body. Using the terms 

 ' exa^etion ,a,nd secretion in the distinctive senses indicated on 

 page 58 of this work, the action of the liver is both secret- 

 ive and excretory — secretive because the admixture of bile 

 with the chyle is essential to the healthy performance of the 

 digestive process ; excretory because if the bile were allowed 

 to remain in the blood, it would vitiate and poison the entire 

 circulation. These considerations will better enable us to 

 understand how important a bearing the condition of this 

 organ must have upon the general health. 



In the horse, the bile from the liver, together with a whitish 

 fluid from the pancreas (or sweet-breadfSLa it is vulgarly called) 

 enters the small intestines at the termination of the duode- 

 num, about twenty-two inches from the pyloric orifice of the 

 stomach. These secretions are conveyed through the biliary 

 and pancreatic ducts, which are shown near a, in the cut of 

 the intestines, in the preceding chapter. The horse has no 

 gall-bladder, so that the bile, as fast as it is eliminated from 

 the blood, passes directly to the intestines. He is less sub- 

 ject to liver complaints than either any of the remaining 

 domestic animals, or his master — man. 



This is a circumstance which the farmer may well be thank- 

 ful for, on account of the obscurity of the symptoms in such 

 cases, and the extreme difficulty of determining precisely 



