DISEASES OF THE LIVER AND SPLEEN. loi 



next day it was evident that he was sinking ; the owner then 

 decided to have him destroyed. 



" On making a post-mortem examination, the liver was 

 found to be excessively enlarged, pale in color, having a 

 granular surface when cut into. The intestines were in a 

 healthy condition, and no obstruction was detected through- 

 out the whole length of the tube. The lungs and kidneys 

 were normal. 



" The heart was empty and rather flabby, and the spleen 

 was filled with black blood. No history of the case was ob- 

 tained possessing any points of interest. The dog was ex- 

 ceedingly fat, as pet dogs commonly are, and appeared to 

 have enjoyed an average good health. 



"Examination of the morbid parts. — Messrs. Gowing & 

 Son forwarded the liver, heart, and spleen of the dog referred 

 to in the above record, for our inspection. Fatty deposits in- 

 the liver of fat animals are very common ; but the organ in 

 this instance might almost be said to have undergone fatty 

 metamorphosis, if such a change is possible among pathologi- 

 cal conditions. Estimating the bulk of the diseased organ 

 roughly, ,we should say it was three or four times larger than 

 the healthy gland ; so large, indeed, tliat it must have en- 

 croached to a serious extent upon the other abdominal vis- 

 cera. In texture the organ was granular, yellow in color, and 

 offered to the edge of the knife the resistance of a mass of lard. 



"Under the microscope no healthy liver cells were de- 

 tected ; the entire structure was filled with fat globules, which 

 not only occupied the interior of the cells, but existed every- 

 where in the tissue of the part. Large granular exudation 

 cells, of the kind which is often seen in encephaloid growths, 

 were numerous, but no other elements of cancer were ob- 

 served. 



" Fatty degeneration affected the fibres of the heart to a 

 remarkable extent ; in fact, from the state of the organ, it is 

 certain that the circulation must have been extremely feeble. 

 The spleen was congested, but not otherwise diseased." 



