THE HORSE IN SICKNESS AND DISEASE 357 



CHAPTER XXII 



THE HORSE IN SICKNESS AND DISEASE 



DISEASES AND INJURIES OP THE LIVER. 



INFLAMMATION OF THE LIVER — JAUNDICE — ENLARGEMENT 

 OF THE LIVER — RUPTURE OF THE LIVER. 



The liver of the horse is less frequently diseased in 

 early and middle life than in man and many other 

 animals. Oxen and gheep, having a gall bladder and 

 cystic duct which the horse has not, are more liable to 

 biliary obstructions. Cows are specially the subject of 

 liver disorder, called by herdsmen and cow-doctors by the 

 characteristic name of " the yellows." 



The chronic or torpid state of the disease, which is very 

 common among high-fed and slightly-worked carriage and 

 brewers' horses, may be unsuspected till the animal is sud- 

 denly seized with gripes, or otherwise shows signs of being 

 seriously ill. These symptoms are caused by the rupture 

 of the fibrous case of the liver, and the escape of blood into 

 the peritoneum or serous covering of the huge gland. It is 

 then almost too late to try calomel. A few days' quiet, and 

 a dose to open the bowels, will be all that can be ventured ; 

 and the horse is returned to its owner, with a caution to 

 work him gently and feed him sparingly for the future. 

 Such cautions, however, are rarely long attended to. 



Treatment. — In the first instance four to six quarts of 

 blood should be abstracted, and this immediately followed 

 by ten drachms of purging mass in a ball, or twelve 

 drachms in solution, the operation of which may be 

 accelerated by the occasional administration of a clyster. 

 Calomel, and, indeed, every other preparation of mercury, 

 being a stimulant to the liver, is to be scrupulously avoided. 

 As soon as we perceive the physic to be setting, should 

 there be occasion for it, we may take away another gallon 

 of blood, and at the same time, after having had the hair 

 shorn ofi", apply a blister to the right side, extending it 

 from the borders of the ribs as far forward as the place 

 of girthing. The first dose of medicine once "set," we may 

 resume our operation on the bowels by giving daily the 



