DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS. 21b 



neglect. It is not only prevalent in England, but also in Asia, 

 Africa, and America. In Egypt, on the receding of the Nile, it 

 spreads to a fearful extent. In warm climates the livers of men 

 and animals become diseased, not so much from local causes as 

 from stimulating drinks and diet. If a man attempts to consume 

 the same amount of food in warm that he has been accustomed to 

 in cold climates, he is apt to become bilious, and this is a pre- 

 monitory indication of perverted function of the liver. A very 

 important fact has lately been discovered in reference to the func- 

 tion of the lr/er. A French chemist has ascertained that one 

 function of the liver was to produce sugar out of the animal or- 

 ganism. This is the secret of the formation of the fat. Chem- 

 ically speaking, sugar and fat are nearly allied, the chief difference 

 being that one contains a small portion of oxygen. 



Many valuable animals are lost from organic disease of the 

 liver, the origin of which may, in many cases that have come to 

 our knowledge, be traced to simple functional derangement, which 

 has existed for some time. Its symptoms are either unobserved 

 or, if perceived, disregarded. Some of the subjects that have been 

 put under our care for the treatment of diseased liver had a strong 

 predisposition for the malady, their color being black and tem- 

 perament bilious. Such horses are the ones that require special 

 attention whenever they appear to be " ailing." It is remarkable 

 to observe, however, that many horses of a temperament diverse 

 from the bilious are often attacked with organic and functional 

 derangement of the liver, and this peculiarity can only be ac- 

 counted for on the ground that the horse has no gall-bladder — 

 no receptacle, such as is found in cattle, for the accumulation of 

 bile ; consequently, the horse's liver must be an active organ, 

 especially when the animal is permitted to make but one meal per 

 day, and that meal occupies a period from sunrise to sunset, and 

 daily and weekly continues to occupy no less time. The conse- 

 quence is, the organ is overworked, and is the seat of local ex- 

 haustion. The liver requires regular periods of rest to recover 

 from fatigue 01 functional duty, yet how is it possible to secure 

 the same when a horse is permitted to make a perpetual hay-rack 

 and corn-bin of his stomach ? The herculean feat of converting 

 a hay-stack and corn granary into bone, muscle, and nerve at the 

 rate of 2.40 is beyond the physiological capacity of any vital 

 organ ; therefore, in the language of the sailor, the vessel smku 



