244 DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE APPARATUS. 



NothÎDg positive is known about the mode of formation of 

 lupinotoxine. It is generally admitted that the poison is a product 

 of transformation, a result of germination on the surface of the 

 plant of a certain micro-organism, which would thus become the 

 indirect cause of lupinosis. 



Anatomical alterations. Parenchymatous inflammation of 

 the internal organs, and mainly of the liver, kidneys, etc. ; also 

 lesions of icterus and of a chronic hemorrhagic diathesis.'' 



1. The alterations of the liver are those of simple acute hepatitis. 

 Its volume is normal or increased. This depends upon the condition 

 of the organ, whether or not it has undergone fatty degeneration ; 

 the hepatic cells are the seat of granular change and of a turbid 

 albuminoid tumefaction ; then they are affected by fatty degenera- 

 tion ; their volume is increased, and they present, toward their 

 periphery, albuminous granulation and fat-corpuscles. The degree 

 of fatty infiltration of the liver seems to depend upon the obesity 

 of the animals. Schneidemiihl admits that, as in poisoning by 

 phosphorus, the fat is transported from the subcutaneous connective 

 tissue into the liver. This organ is soft and friable. At this stage 

 of softening, during which most animals succumb, an atrophic 

 change follows (acute yellow atrophy of the liver, Schiitz) which is 

 characterized by the resorption of the liquid contents of the hepatic 

 oells. The liver shrinks considerably ; according to Schiitz, the 

 atrophic period lasts a couple of weeks ; but it is not certain, it is 

 .even doubtful, whether this hepatic alteration is identical with the 

 ;acute yellow atrophy of the human race. 



In chronic lupinosis, the alterations of the liver consist mainly in 

 :a chronic interstitial hepatitis, with hypertrophy of the interlobular 

 •connective tissue ; the liver is small, hard, uneven, very irregular 

 on its surface ; we then detect the consecutive lesions of blood stag- 

 nation in the portal vein (ascites, œdematous tumefaction of the 

 spleen and of the intestinal mucous membrane, etc.). 



2. Icterus shows itself in the first place in the liver, which be- 

 comes of a lemon-yellow, yellowish, or reddish shade. It is hepat- 

 ogenic, which is due to the catarrh of the bile canals ; we observe 

 sometimes the icteric coloration of certain organs or tissues which 

 are more or less distant from the liver ; for instance, upon the sub- 

 cutaneous connective tissue, the skin of the belly, the omentum, 

 upon the mesenteric, etc. The gall-bladder is often much dis- 

 tended by the bile ; its mucous membrane is red and tumefied. 



