134 DISEASES OF POULTRY. 



On postmortem examination 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 re- 

 placed by yellow fat globules. 



As the disease is not recognized during life, treat- 

 ment is out of the question. If a number of cases oc- 

 cur in the same flock, give greater variety of food and 

 a run on grass. In addition, bicarbonate of soda may 

 be given in the drinking water to the amount of one 

 or two grains a day for each bird. 



FATTY LIVER'. 



It is contended by authors who have examined into 

 the subject, that the fatty livers which are so skill- 

 fully developed by certain feeders of geese and ducks, 

 and which are considered a great table delicacy should 

 not be confounded with livers which have undergone 

 fatty degeneration. The latter is a disease while the 

 former is simply a physiological condition. In fatty 

 degeneration the liver is shrunken, there is a formation 

 of fat within the cells and destruction of the cells, 

 while in fatty livers the fat is deposited between the 

 microscopic elements of the liver, and this organ is 

 thereby enlarged and rendered more succulent and 

 delicate, but there is no destruction of the cells. If 

 the process of fattening is properly carried out there 

 is, consequently, no disease. 



TUBERCULOSIS OF THE LIVER, SPLEEN AND 

 PERITONEUM. 



This disease is manifested by whitish or yellowish - 

 white nodules and aggregations of nodules varying in 

 size from a mere point to an inch or more in diameter. 



