2io VETERINARY LECTURES 



and blanched ; there is a running-down pulse ; then muscular twitch- 

 ings supervene, the legs and body get icy cold, and death soon 

 follows. The liver is also a frequent seat of tubercular deposits, 

 abscesses, and tumours, as well as atrophy. 



318. Jaundice, or 'yellows,' arises from many causes, but is 

 generally looked upon as a symptom of some derangement of the 

 liver, such as congestion, obstruction in the bile-ducts, loss of tone, 

 and consequently inability to secrete the bile. Congestion is one 

 of the most frequent liver disturbances met with in horses and cattle. 

 It generally occurs in hot, dry seasons. The animal becomes 

 sluggish, languid, and lazy, drops the head, loses the appetite, but 

 evinces no pain. The pulse is full, slow, and soft ; eyelids and gums 

 of a dirty yellow or orange colour ; tongue furred ; breath foetid ; 

 bowels costive ; faeces of a light slate colour ; while in some cases in 

 the horse the animal goes lame on one fore-leg, usually the off (right) 

 one. Cattle are, however, more subject to this complaint than the 

 horse, and the dirty yellow or orange colour can be readily noticed in 

 the corner of the eye or inside of the ear, on the udder, under the tail, 

 and, indeed, on any white part of the skin or any visible mucous 

 membrane, particularly the vagina. The belly is flat, the appetite 

 bad, and the animal rarely chews the cud. Treatment. — A good dose 

 of opening medicine should be given at first. One drachm of calomel, 

 suspended in from 1^ to 2 ounces spirits of nitre, and 1 pint of 

 linseed oil may be given with advantage, either to horses or cattle, 

 followed up by alkaline and vegetable tonics (par. 1073, No. IV.). 

 Cattle also occasionally suffer from the presence of the dead bodies 

 of the liver fluke which have undergone calcareous degeneration, 

 and fill the bile -ducts of the liver with incrustations, accom- 

 panied by enlargement of the gall-bladder and a thickening of 

 the walls of the bile-ducts, rendering the liver hard and gritty, and 

 thereby interfering with its function. Symptoms. — A general yellow- 

 ness is seen all over the body ; the skin is tight and scruffy, with 

 gradual wasting away of the flesh ; the appetite and action of the 

 bowels are both very irregular, and the animal has all the appear- 

 ances of a piner or a tubercular patient. Treatment is of little avail, 



