126 SWINE PRACTICE 



standing surgical interference is necessary. The protruding portions 

 should be cleaned and two needles with double thread passed through 

 the entire mass. The protruding portion can thus be ligated in four 

 places by combining one thread from each of the sutures. After 

 the ligation has been completed the protruding portion may be re- 

 moved by a scalpel. In such operative cases it is necessary to give 

 an enema or produce a liquid condition of the feces by means of 

 purgatives. 



Liver 



The liver is a very important organ physiologically, and it is of 

 such magnitude that derangement of its function and disease usually 

 result in marked metabolic disturbance of the affected animal. The 

 diseases of the liver of swine have not received clinical consider- 

 ation, and little is known of the pathologic conditions in the liver of 

 swine excepting the observations recorded by men employed in the 

 inspection of meat. 



MALFORMATIONS 



Malformations of the liver are not of much importance. There 

 may be too few or too many lobes. The lobes may be entirely sepa- 

 rated. Rarely, the gall-bladder is wanting. 



FOREIGN BODIES 



Several hog livers have been observed that contained quantities of 

 sand or cinders, varying in volume from an ounce to a quart. These 

 cases have been observed in swine killed at abattoirs, and without 

 exception the affected animals were in prime condition. 



The avenue of entrance of the sand and cinders is no doubt through 

 the hepatic duct. The manner in which the foreign substances gain 

 entrance and "back-tell" in the ducts to the gall bladder and from 

 there into the collecting cystic ducts in the liver has not been de- 

 termined. The hepatic duct orifice in the summit of the duodenal 

 papilla probably becomes enlarged through injury, or atrophy of 

 the surrounding mucosa, and this, in conjunction with a full stomach 

 and intestine, would facilitate the passage of the foreign substance 

 through the orifice and into the hepatic duct. The irritation of the 

 foreign substance may cause relaxation of the sphincter muscles and 

 also establish reverse peristalsis. It may be possible that the cause 

 may be due to irregular action of the intestinal musculature. In 



