Purulent Inflammation. 911 



in the hard palate). The suppurative foci may be isolated or 

 numerous, and in case of metastasis several abscesses are 

 usually formed. In exceptional cases gastrus larvae may pro- 

 duce extensive suppuration in the spleens of young horses 

 (Kovats). Traumatic influences usually lead to the formation 

 of only one abscess, but the entire organ may become subject 

 to the suppurative destruction. While an injury in the splenic 

 region may be the immediate cause of such an inflammation it 

 is far more frequently produced by foreign bodies which may 

 get into the organ from the first stomachs of ruminants and, 

 exceptionally, from stomach and intestine in other animals. 

 The spleen may be enlarged to 4 or 5 times its normal size. 

 According to Notz sucking calves often develop a purulent 

 hemorrhagic inflammation of the spleen when they are stepped 

 on by their mothers. 



The symptoms of traumatic purulent inflammation of the 

 spleen are very vague. Aside from the sensitiveness and en- 

 largement of the organ which may be demonstrable, the clinical 

 picture is composed more of general disturbances an explana- 

 tion of which is possible only by reliable historical data to a 

 certain degree. There are cases in which a large abscess is 

 found in the spleen on autopsy of animals which presented 

 no sign of disease during life. Mobius, for instance, found an 

 abscess containing 3 liters of pus in the spleen of a well- 

 nourished cow, and Kiihnau reported a similar case. In other 

 cases only digestive disturbances and colicky symptoms, show- 

 ing little that is characteristic, are observed and are followed 

 by a gradual or rapid emaciation (Knoll, Zimmermann; de 

 Meestre ordered the animal to be killed in one case because 

 he suspected lung plague). Fleischer observed, in purulent 

 inflammation of the spleen in cattle, convulsive movements 

 which recurred periodically. If the disease develops rather 

 rapidly there exists a violent fever which may be continuous 

 or remittent. Imminger is inclined to consider a continuous 

 temperature of 40-41° C, which does not yield to antipyretic 

 remedies, as characteristic of purulent splenic inflammation. 

 In this he surely goes much too far, for in the presence of 

 such symptoms the nature of the disease can be recognized 

 only then when at the same time swelling and perhaps tender- 

 ness of the spleen may likewise be ascertained by percussion 

 and palpation (van den Eeckhout found in a colt an area of 

 dullness, five fingers wide, below the left costal arch, the an- 

 terior border of which passed in front and below, obliquely 

 to the fifth rib and then turned vertically downwards; the 

 enlarged spleen weighed 91/2 kg.). Sometimes a large splenic 

 abscess may be felt from the rectum and then it will be possible 

 to determine fluctuation. Finally, purulent inflammation of 

 the spleen may give rise to the development of peritonitis or 

 pleurisy which will also occur after rupture of the abscess in 

 which case it becomes purulent (Frohner, Author's case). 



