56 



colored urine, and general febrile symptoms. If lying down lie is mostly 

 found on the left side; loolis occasionally toward the right side, which, 

 upon close inspection, may be found to be slightly enlarged over the 

 posterior ribs, where pain upon pressure is also evinced. Obscure 

 lameness in front, of the right leg mostly, is said by some of the best 

 veterinary writers to be a symptom of hepatitis. The horse, toward tlie 

 last, reels or staggers in his gait and falls backward in a fointing fit, 

 during one of which he finally succumbs. Death is sometimes due to 

 rupture of the enveloping coat of the liver or of some of its blood-ves- 

 sels. 



Among the causes that lead to this disease we must mention first the 

 stimulating effect of overfeeding, particularly during hot weather. 

 Those horses that are well fed and receive but little exercise — old favor- 

 ites that are being liberally fed and have passed the time of service, 

 pensioned heroes of years of faithful toil — these are the best subjects 

 for diseases of this organ. We must add to these causes the more 

 mechanical ones, as injuries on the right side over the liver, worms in 

 the liver, gall-stones in the biliary ducts, foreign bodies, as needles or 

 nails that have been swallowed and in their ^vauderings have entered 

 the liver, and, lastly, in some instances, the extension of inflammation 

 from neighboring parts, thus involving this organ. Acute hepatitis may 

 terminate in chronic inflammation, abscesses, rupture of the liver, or 

 may disappear, leaving behind no trace of disease whatever. 



Treatment. — This should consist, at first, of the administration of 1 

 ounce of Barbadoes aloes or other physic. A large blister is to be ap- 

 plied to the right side, letting it extend from a little behind the girth 

 backward to the last rib and in width about 12 to 14 inches midway 

 between the spine above and the middle of the belly below. General 

 blood-letting, if had recourse to early, must prove of much benefit in 

 acute inflammation of the liver. The vein in the neck— jugular— must 

 be opened, and from 4 to quarts of blood may be drawn. Saline medi- 

 cines, to act on the kidneys, should follow this treatment; 1-ounce doses 

 of saltpeter or muriate of ammonia, repeated three or four times a day, 

 are probably as good as any. The horse is to be fed sparingly on soft 

 food, bran-mashes chiefly. If we prove successful and recovery takes 

 place, see to it that the horse afterwards gets regular exercise and that 

 his food is not of a highly nutritious character, or excessive. 



It will, I think, be useless to attempt much of a description of c/tromc 

 hepatitis, the symptoms of this trouble being so obscure that the veteri- 

 nary surgeon, in most cases, can scarcely hope to do more than diag- 

 nose it by exclusion. True, if a horse has had acute hepatitis and re- 

 mains dull for too great a length of time, with occasional slight colicky 

 symptoms, yellow membranes, etc., we may not fear of being far wrong 

 in saying that this disease has passed to the chronic form ; but to diag- 

 nose this form of hepatitis, without any such previous knowledge of 

 the case, is, to tell the truth, very often " guess-work " with us. 



