DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS. 216 
ueglect. It is not only prevalent in Englana, out also in Asia, 
Africa, and America. In Egypt, on the receding of the Nile, it 
spreads to a fearful extent. In warm climates the livers of men 
and animals become diseased, not so much from local causes as 
from stimulating drinks and diet. If a man attempts tc consume 
the same amount of food in warm that he has been accustomed to 
in cold climates, he is apt to become bilious, and this is a pre- 
monitory indication of perverted function of the liver. A very 
important fact has lately been discovered in reference to the func- 
tion of the liver. A French chemist has ascertained that one 
function of the liver was to produce sugar out of the animal or- 
ganism. ‘This is the secret of the formation of the fat. Chem- 
ically speaking, sugar and fat are nearly allied, the chief differerze 
being that one contains a small portion of oxygen. 
Many valuable animals are lost from organic disease of the 
liver, the origin of which may, in many cases that have come to 
our knowledge, be traced to simple functional derangement, which 
has existed for some time. Its symptoms are either unobserved 
or, if perceived, disregarded. Some of the subjects that have been 
put under our care for the treatment of diseased liver had a strong 
predisposition for the malady, their color being black and tem- 
perament bilious. Such horses are the ones that require special 
attention whenever they appear to be “ailing.” It is remarkable 
to observe, however, that many norses of a temperament diverse 
from the bilious are often attacked with organic and functional 
derangement of the liver, and this peculiarity can only be ac- 
counted for on the ground that the horse has no gall-bladder— 
no receptacle, such as is found in cattle, for the accumulation of 
bile ; consequently, the horse’s liver must be an active organ, 
especially when the animal is permitted to make but one meal per 
day, and that meal occupies a period from sunrise to sunset, and 
daily and weekly continues to occupy no less time. The conse 
quence is, the organ is overworked, and is the seat of local ex. 
haustion. The liver requires regular periods of rest tc recover 
from fatigue o1 functional duty, yet how is it possible to secure 
the same when a horse is permitted to make a perpetual hay-rack 
and corn-bin of his stomach? The herculean feat of converting 
a hay-stack and corn granary into bone, muscle, and nerve at the 
tate of 2.40 is beyoud the physiological capacity of any vital 
organ; therefore. in the language of the sailor, the vessel sinks 
