92 Diseases of Poultry 



supervenes they may be pale or tinged with yellow bile ; 

 more fat is laid on internally and the liver will prove to be 

 greatly enlarged. So large may this become by the deposit 

 of fat globules between and in the substance of its cells that 

 on one occasion I have removed from an Orpington cock a 

 liver that turned the scale at a pound and a half. This 

 stage is seldom passed and death usually takes place from 

 syncope, or an accidental rupture of the softened liver." 



Treatment. — Green says further : " Part of the treatment 

 consists of a plentiful allowance of green food. Nothing in 

 this way is better than freshly gathered dandelion leaves 

 when procurable, for the taraxacum they contain is a valu- 

 'able liver stimulant. It is not generally known that the 

 sliced roots of the plants can be steeped in boiling water to 

 make an infusion equally effective when the leaves are no 

 longer obtainable. The roots should be gathered and 

 stored in dry boxes. The infusion is conveniently mixed 

 with the morning soft food and is always beneficial to birds 

 in confinement as an occasional liver tonic." 



Fatty Degeneration 



As noted in the above paragraphs, Green regards this 

 disease as a later stage in the hypertrophy of the liver. 

 Salmon, on the other hand, believes it to be a quite different 

 disease. The latter author says: " On post-mortem exara- 

 ination the liver is found shrunken, hardened and marbled 

 or spotted with areas of grayish or yellowish tissue. A 

 microscopic examination shows the liver cells to contain 

 droplets of fat and the liver tissue degenerated and largely 

 replaced by yellow fat globules. 



As the disease is not recognized during life, treatment is 

 out of the question. If a number of cases occur in the same 

 flock, give greater variety of food and a run on the grass. In 



