26 POULTRY DISEASES AND THEIR TREATMENT. 



losis. Another thing about the heart is that it should be even 

 lobed — that is to say, it should not be distended on one side and 

 empty on the other ; if it be so, the probability is that the bird 

 has died from heart failure, and supposing it is known that the 

 bird did die suddenly, this can at once be accepted as the cause — 

 syncope, failure of the heart's action, which always ends in very 

 sudden death, the bird simply dropping down dead without any 

 warning. The lungs, which will be seen on either side at the 

 back of the heart, are spongy looking bodies of a pink color. 

 If a piece of one of the lungs can be cut off and be placed in a 

 bowl of water it should float, not sink, or it will be unhealthy. 

 Always look at the lungs for tuberculosis, which is usually to be 

 detected there,* and is indicated by little cheesy nodules in the 

 substance of the lungs, which cannot possibly be mistaken ; some- 

 times the lungs and the heart will all be eaten by these tuber- 

 culous masses. If no disease has been found so far, proceed to 

 examine the crop and the gullet, also the windpipe. With re- 

 gard to the crop, it might almost be examined first if it is full 

 of food, and apparently in a state of congestion, to see whether 

 there be a stoppage in the opening from the crop to the pro- 

 ventricle. The gullet and windpipe can also be examined to see 

 if there is anything unhealthy about them. Similarly an exam- 

 ination can then be made of the intestines, and in the case of a 

 hen the egg organs can be carefully dissected to see whether 

 there is a broken egg, or whether any egg substance has escaped 

 into the cavity of the abdomen and set up inflammation." 



"There is no difficulty about making an examination of the 

 skull, and the amateur with a little practice will very easily be 

 able to do this. The way to set about it is to start at one corner 

 of the mouth, and with a pair of sharp pointed scissors cut 

 around the skull to the other corner of the mouth ; it will then 

 be quite an easy matter to lift up the skull from the back, and 

 the brain will be clearly seen. This should be perfectly clear, 

 and if there be any trace of a slight effusion of blood, it will be 

 positive evidence of an apoplectic seizure, and will confirm the 

 symptoms of apoplexy, which are delirium, resulting, after a few 

 hours or a few days helplessness, in death. These, then, are 



*This is usually not the case (see below p. 62). This writer has 

 probably mistaken aspergillosis lesions of the lungs for those of tuber- 

 culosis. Note added by compiler. 



