INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEY. 213 



THE SPLEEN AND PANCREAS. 



The spleen is generally regarded as an appendage to the absorbent 

 system. Tiedemann and Gmelin consider that its specific function is to 

 secrete from the blood a fluid which possesses the property of coagulation, 

 and which is carried to the thoracic duct, and then, being united with the 

 chyle, converts it into blood, arid causes an actual communication between 

 the arterial and absorbent systems. According, however, to Dr. Bostock, 

 there is a fatal objection to this, namely, that animals have been known to 

 live an indefinite length of time after the removal of the spleen, without 

 any obvious injury to their functions, which could not have been the case 

 if the spleen had been essentially necessary for so important a process. 



A knowledge of the diseases of the spleen in the dog appears to be less 

 advanced than in any other animal. In the cases that I have seen, the 

 earliest indications were frequent vomiting, and the discharge of a yellow, 

 frothy mucus. The animal appeared uneasy, shivering, the ears cold, the 

 eyes unnaturally protuberant, the nostrils dilated, the flanks agitated, the 

 respiration accelerated, and the mucous membranes pale. The best treat- 

 ment I know is the administration, twice in the day, of a ball composed of 

 a grain of calomel and the same quantity of aloes, and five grains of ginger. 

 The dog frequently cries out, both when he is moved and when he lies on 

 his bed. In the course of three days the yellow mucus is generally dis- 

 appearing, and the expression of pain is materially diminished. 



If the bowels are much constipated after two days have passed, two 

 scruples of aloes may be given, and a grain of calomel ; frequent injections 

 may also be administered. 



We are almost totally ignorant of the the functions of the pancreas. It 

 probably is concerned in assimilating the food, and converting the chyme 

 of the stomach into chyle. 



INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEY 



is a serious and dangerous malady. This organ is essentially vascular in 

 its texture ; and although it is small in volume, yet, on account of the 

 quantity of blood which it contains, and the rapidity with which its secre- 

 tions are performed, it is disposed to frequent and dangerous inflammation. 

 The immediate causes of inflammatory action in this viscus are blows and 

 contusions in the lumbar region ; hard work long continued, and the im- 

 prudent use of stimulating substances employed as aphrodisiacs ; the pre- 

 sence of calculi in the kidney, and the arrest of the urine in the bladder. 

 The whole of the kidney may be affected with anaemia or defect of blood, 

 or this may be confined to the cortical substance, or even to the tubular. 

 The kidneys are occasionally much larger than usual, without any other 

 change of structure ; or simple hypertrophy may affect but one of them. 

 They are subject to atrophy, which may be either general or partial ; or 

 one of the kidneys may be completely wanting, and this evidently the con- 

 sequence of violence or disease. 



Hydatids, although seldom met with in the human kidney, are not un- 

 frequently found in that of the dog. All these are circumstances that have 

 not received sufficient attention. 



