132 THE HOG. 



lotions of vinegar and water, to bathe the parts in the neighborhood 



of the spleen, or a cold shower-bath applied by means of a water- 



ing- pot, are also efficacious in these cases. 



Columella, in his quiet style, thus treats of this disease : 

 "Also the pain of a distempered spleen uses to plague them ; the 



which chiefly happens when there chances to be great droughts, and, 



is the Bucolic poem speaks 



When on all sides the apples scattered lie, 

 Each under its own tree ; 



for it is an insatiable cattle the swine, which beyond all measure 

 eagerly seek after that which is sweet. They labor and are affected 

 in the summer and early autumn with a swelling or growth of the 

 spleen, from the which they are relieved if troughs be made of tama- 

 risks and butcher's broom, and filled with water, and set before them 

 when they are thirsty ; for the medicinal juice of the wood being 

 swallowed with the drink, puts a stop to their intestinal swelling." 



The great difficulty here is, how troughs can be made of the 

 museus (butcher's broom.) In all probability the true meaning is, 

 that the trough should be lined with the branches of this plant ; and 

 the tamarisks signifies doubtless the tamaricus e trunco mentioned 

 by Pliny, lib. xxiv. 9, where he speaks of canals and troughs being 

 made of the tamarix. Translators are given occasionally to maka 

 similar mistakes or alterations of text. 



RUPTURE OF THE SPLEEN. 



We quote this case from the " Veterinarian 11 for 1841 : 

 "A pig belonging to Mr. Roberts of Whitchurch, died after hav- 

 ing only been ill for a day or so, and that unattended by any defi- 

 nite symptoms. On post-mortem examination the spleen was found 

 to be of about three or four times its natural size, and completely 

 congested. In one place there was a small rupture surrounded with 

 coagulated blood. All the other viscera were perfectly sound." 



ABSORPTION OF THE SPLEEN. 



This case is also derived from the same source, and we present it 

 to our readers as a testimony of the different forms of disease which 

 occur in the spleen of the swine. 



"A fat pig, weighing fifteen score, was killed, and upon cutting it 

 up, the spleen was found to be almost entirely absorbed. It was of 

 the usual length, but not above half an inch in width or the eighth 

 of an inch in thickness in any part, and weighed but seven drachms. 

 What there was of it, however, appeared to be perfectly sound, and 

 ivas surrounded by a considerable portion of adepts." 



