DISEASES OF THE SPLEEN. 



313 



forming of adhesions between the peritoneal folds which come in 

 contact. Fixations of the spleen to the abdominal wall, the intes- 

 tine, aud liver, are thus produced. 



Splenitis is of internal or traumatic origin. Cruzel claims to 

 have observed it quite frequently in the ox, in the aouie^ subacute, 

 and chronic forms. 



It may be provoked by direct causes, by contusions and wounds 

 penetrating the left hypochondrium ; at times it is produced under 

 the influence of a general disease ; Cruzel ascribes it especially to 

 the extreme sanguine temperament of the oxen belonging to the 

 working races, excessive efforts, over-driving, cold and damp 

 weather, and long feeding upon very nutritious food. In certain 

 instances its cause eludes all investigation. 



Its symptoms, which are always undefined, can be thus described : 

 tumefaction of the spleen, abnormal sensibility and sometimes rising 

 of the left hypochondrium, an intense pain produced by percussion 

 of the region ; inappétence, constipation, nausea, vomitings, fever 

 of slight or of intense reaction, finally various traumatic lesions — 

 contusion, contused wounds, deep wounds — when the disease is of 

 external origin. 



The following are the symptoms given by Cruzel as pathog- 

 nomonic of splenitis of the ox: Chills which are more or less 

 marked at the beginning of the disease; uneasy respiration ; tension, 

 rising (soulèvement) of the left flank — differing from the swelling 

 of ordinary meteorism, as it appears to be determined by the driv- 

 ing back of the spleen. The sound rendered by percussion is dull, 

 similar to that resulting from a blow upon a soft body offering a 

 certain resistance. Cruzel declares that he has never made a mis- 

 take since his attention was called to this rising of the flank. 



Resolution is the most common ending of splenitis. Even when 

 this has been determined by a traumatism, the cure is regular if 

 peritonitis is not added to the primary affection. But in cases 

 where the spleen is directly affected by a vulnerating body, a hemor- 

 rhage takes place in the peritoneum, and death may occur rapidly. 

 Splenitis may also end in suppuration or gangrene. The symptoms 

 of these complications, masked by an intense fever, are diflicult to 

 understand. We see paroxysms alternate with remissions of a 

 variable duration, and percussion denotes an intense sensibility of 

 the left hypochondrium. The splenic abscesses are mostly dis- 

 charged into the peritoneum and determine fatal accidents; they 



