CONGESTION OF LIVER 2 I I 



fore limb; it is therefore desirable and important in the interests of 

 the owner and the welfare of the horse to be always alive to any 

 possible liver complications that may arise in connection with 

 almost every form of disease, the suggestive indications of which 

 have already been mentioned. 



CONGESTION OF LIVER 



Is intimately connected with disturbance of the heart due either 

 to an obstruction of the flow of blood as it returns through the 

 large veins, or to an increase of blood over and above the normal 

 in the blood vessels which convey the vital fluid to and from the 

 organ itself; it has already been stated that the principal function 

 of the liver is the formation of bile; the organ "is made up of 

 small roundish or oval portions called lobules each of which is 

 about 2V of s^ ^^^^^ ^^^ diameter, and composed of the minute 

 branches of the portal vein, hepatic arter}', hepatic duct and he- 

 patic vein; while the interstices of these vessels are filled by the 

 liver cells. These cells which make up a great portion of the 

 substance of the organ are rounded or polygonal from about g^^- 

 to Y^ViT of an inch in diameter containing well-marked nuclei and 

 granules and having sometimes a yellowish tinge, especially about 

 their nuclei; frequently also they contain also various-sized parti- 

 cles of fat. Each lobule is very sparingly invested by areolar tis- 

 sue " {Kif'ke's Physiology). The small vessles described as ducts 

 convey the bile after it is formed in the cells to the main duct, 

 which empties itself into the intestines, and as these lie in juxta- 

 position to the numerous blood vessels already named it will be 

 apparent how it is that an excessive accumulation of blood, which 

 does not pass away from the organ as it should do, accounts for 

 much that would otherwise be difficult to understand in relation to 

 the yellow color imparted to the visible mucous membranes, from 

 which we learn by ocular demonstration that the functions of the 

 liver are disorganized and out of order, for it would appear that 

 when the flow of blood out of the organ is retarded, pressure is 

 brought to bear on the bile ducts, hindering the free passage of the 

 bile in its right course and causing it to pass through the walls of 

 the ducts into and through those of the blood vessels, by which 

 means the blood stream is overcharged with bile and its color 

 altered, and in this w^ay the yellow tinge is imparted to the pale 



