Amyloid Degeneration of the Liver. 533 



on the posterior aspect there may be hyperplasia and a rough 

 irregular surface. The diseased liver is heavy and sinks in water, 

 unlike the fatty liver. In the horse it is soft and friable or even 

 pasty whereas in man it is firm and resistant. The cut surface is 

 bloodless, smooth, clear, homogeneous and grayish, yellowish or 

 reddish gray. When treated with a solution of iodine and potas- 

 sium iodide it changes to a deep mahogany brown ; if dilute sul- 

 phuric acid is then used it changes to a deep violet, almost black 

 color. If the iodine solution is brushed over the smooth cut sur- 

 face the mahogany color of the amyloid stands out in marked con- 

 trast with the bright yellow of the healthy hepatic tissue. The 

 amyloid commences in the walls of the smallest arteries, in the 

 media and intermediary layers of the intima, and thickens the 

 walls so as to obstruct their lumen more or less completely and 

 render the part comparatively exsanguine. It may extend to the 

 connective tissue of the organ, but it is not certain that the hepatic 

 cells are involved in the process. The cells are, however, pressed 

 upon by the diseased vessels and stroma and undergo consequent 

 fatty degeneration. The amyloid may be confined to but a small 

 part of the liver or to its smaller bloodvessels or it may extend to 

 the whole. In fowls it is always in multiple centres (L,eisering). 

 It may be found in other important organs, kidneys, spleen, 

 lymphatic glands, intestinal mucosa, etc. 



Symptoms are not diagnostic. If with an old standing, ex- 

 hausting disease, paresis, weakness, emaciation and unfitness for 

 work, there is loss of appetite, dryness of the mouth, congestion 

 of the rectal mucosa, yellowish, whitish, or dark tarry faeces, and 

 a slightly brownish or yellowish tinge of the visible mucous mem- 

 branes (Rexante) it may be suspected. In fowls I,eisering 

 noticed, weakness, lameness ruffling of the feathers and attacks 

 of vertigo. Icterus, ascites and tenderness over the region of the 

 liver may all be absent. In the absence of ascites, tympany, or 

 an excess of fat in the smaller animals, manipulation may detect 

 the considerable enlargement of the liver, and the characteristic 

 smoothness, of its surface. In other cases some indicatiou may, 

 at times, be had from the increased area of dullness or percussion. 



Treatment. Is essentially unsatisfactory even if a correct diag- 

 nosis can be made. The most hopeful course would be to correct 

 the debilitating disease in which the amyloid seems to have orig- 



