200 THE FARM DOCTOR. 



DISEASES OF THE SPLEEN (mILT). 



These are if possible even more occult than those of the 

 pancreas. And yet this organ is involvcJ in nearly all diseases 

 of the liver, in specific fevers due to a poison in the blood, and 

 in disorders of the lymphatic vessels. Obstructed circulation 

 through the liver sends the blood back on this organ and over- 

 distends it almost to rupture. 



Advanced tuberculosis and cancer rarely fail to show 

 secondary deposits here, (xlanders sometimes shows the same 

 tendency. Anthrax and anthracoid affections, and, to a less 

 extent, other specific feveis, lead to enlargement and even 

 rupture of the spleen, in conne.xion with the long retention of 

 the blood and disease poisons in its venous cavities. Of 

 particular diseases the spleen suffers from wasting in starved 

 animals, from extraordinary increase in the highly fed, and from 

 changes of structure such as glandular degeneration and enlarge- 

 vient {lymphadenoma). Some of these diseases, and notably 

 the latter, are associated with an excess of white globules in 

 the blood {leiikcemid), which condition revealed by the micro- 

 scope may assist in diagnosis. 



We can do little for these affections besides giving attention 

 to the general health, by tonics and a sound hygiene. 



