290 THE NATURE AND TREATMENT OP 



stance of the organ. These entozoa belonged to the variety 

 designated the acephalocystis endogena, and each cyst con- 

 tained within it a considerable quantity of the so-called echin- 

 ococci. In the * Transactions of the Veterinary Medical 

 Association, for 1842-3,' a similar case is recorded as occur- 

 ring in a pig, which is illustrated by a colored plate, and which 

 may be said to depict equally as well the condition of the liver 

 of the animal in question."] 



JAUNDICE, OR YELLOWS. 



This disease is of very common occurrence among horned 

 creatures ; the stall-fed animal is probably more subject to it 

 than those otherwise fed. From this the reader will infer that 

 it is more likely to occur in the winter or spring than at any 

 other season, which is the case. In order to prove this, let any 

 one visit our markets, and note the color of the fat of beef, and 

 he will notice the yellow appearance of almost all the beef 

 offered for sale. There may be some exceptions, yet this feature 

 of fat is a sure sign that the animals while living were not en- 

 tirely free from functional derangement of the liver. This 

 peculiar color, however, is very rarely, if ever, found to per- 

 vade the brain, humors of the eye, or the milk during lactation. 



Occasionally, a yellow tinge of the visible surfaces — mem- 

 branes of the mouth, nose, and eyes — appears very suddenly, 

 and is supposed to originate from sympathetic action of the 

 brain upon the liver ; yet it may arise in the same sudden man- 

 ner, in consequence of gastro-intestinal irritation, produced by 

 the introduction of poisonous plants and rough food, such as 

 cornstalks and sugar-cane, into the stomach. Jaundice, in a 

 very protracted form, often owes its origin to the presence of 

 biliary calculi — so say the authorities ; but I have examined 

 many gall bladders after death, yet have never succeeded in 

 finding any; and I have inquired of our slaughterers in this 

 State, and am informed that they never observed any stones in 

 the gall bladder ; yet, in various alkaline districts of this coun- 

 try, I presume biliary calculi may be as common as in the 

 chalky regions of the old world. 



