286 



DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE APPARATUS. 



ical lesions, hepatic calculi, the propagation into the liver of a 

 phlegmasia which is first localized in the intestine, etv^» Abscesses 

 exist at times in large numbers in the hepatic parenchyma (pyemia); 

 they are mostly isolated, very rarely confluent ; all are surrounded 

 with a zone of consolidated hepatic tissue of a dark-brown colora- 

 tion. We find almost always cuneiform hemorrhagic infarct with 

 a central softening. 



The principal symptoms of hepatic metatastic abscesses are an 

 intense fever, which is persistent and irregular, chills, digestive 

 troubles, and icterus. 



INTERSTITIAL CHRONIC HEPATITIS: CIRRHOSIS 

 OF THE LIVER. 



Chronic Induration of the Liver : Schweinsberg" Disease. 



Chronic interstitial hepatitis is mainly formed of a slow inflam- 

 mation of the connective tissue of the liver with consecutive com- 

 pression and atrophy of the hepatic cells. It is mostly seen in the 

 dog. In the horse it is known under the name of Schweinsberg 

 disease. It is also found in the ox and the pig, but more rarely. 



Etiolog-y. The causes of this disease are as yet unknown. In 

 the case of the horse it has been ascribed to swampy districts and 

 to irritating plants (the latter being believed to act upon the liver 

 of animals in the same way as alcohol upon the human liver). 

 BruckmuUer has found it in a horse affected by a very evident 

 pulmonary emphysema. In the dog, cirrhosis of the liver, which 

 is quite frequent, coexists almost always with valvular defects of 

 the heart (cardiac liver). 



Pathological anatomy. According to the phase of the morbid 

 process, we find in the liver hyperplasia, increase in volume (hyper- 

 trophic cirrhosis, or reduction (atrophic cirrhosis). Its consistence 

 is firm ; it has often acquired the resistance of leather or cartilage ; 



duction into the liver. The hepatic territory in which they were found corresponded 

 with the left cul-de-sac of the stomach. The author states that they had penetrated 

 into the gastric mucous membrane, through the peristaltic contractions of the stomach, 

 then into the muscular wall and the serous membrane, and finally into the liver, 

 where they stopped, as no further influence that would cause progression was exerted 

 upon them. We must notice that if these foreign bodies had reached the liver by way 

 of the ductus choledochus or the portal vein they would have been found dissemi- 

 nated in the whole hepatic parenchyma mass. (Bull. Soc. centr. Vét., 1875.) — n. d. t. 



