Dec 1, 1899. J Supplement to the " Tropical Agriculturist,''*' 
441 
auspices or direction have been instituted at, different 
times inlmany coiuitiies, and such experiments date 
back nearly one hundred years. In some in- 
stances these have been confined to testing the 
strengths of native fibrous substances for com- 
parison with similar tests of commercial fibres, 
as the almost exhaustive experiments of Roxbury;h 
in India early in the present cetiturj'. Another 
direction for Government experimentaticn has 
been rhe testing of machines to supersede costly 
hand labor in the preparation of the raw material 
for market, or in the development of cliemicil 
processes for the further preparation of the fibres 
for manufacture, or in microscopic and chemical 
investigation. The broadest field of experiment, 
however, has been the cultivation of the plants, 
either to intioduce new industries as sources of 
national wealth or to economically develop those 
which require to be fostered. 
The introduction of ramie culture is an example 
of the first instance, the fostering of the almost 
extinct flax industry of our grandfathers' days an 
illustration of the second. 
The United States Government has conducted 
experiments or instituted enquiries in the fibre 
interest at various times in the last fifty years, 
but it is only since 1890 that an office of practical 
experiment and inquiry has been established by 
the Department of Agriculture, that has been 
continued through a term of years. T' is is known 
as the Office of Fibre Investigations. The work of 
this branch of the Department of Agriculture has 
been mainly directed towards the development or 
introduction of those fibres which we do not 
produce commercially, but which are capable of 
cultivation in the United States, and which will 
add to our national resources. This work has been 
prosecuted by the importation and distribution of 
the seeds of fibre plants, by encouraging and 
directing field experiments, by testing fibre 
machines and by affording information, both 
through personal correspondence and through a 
series of publications. 
CIRRHOSIS, CHRONIC INTERSTITIAL HEPA- 
TITIS, OR CHRONIC INDURATION OF 
THE LIVER. 
This is a chronic disease in which the liver 
becomes hardened, it may be increased or dimin- 
ished in size, depending on the particular phase 
of the morbid process. The interstitial or 
connective tissue takes on a slow form of 
inflammation, and a very active over-growth, which 
leads to a general compression and atrophy of the 
secreting cells, and a hindrance to the flow of 
blood through the liver. The liver is hard and 
tough, giving, in many instances, a distinct 
grating sound when cut ; the cut surface presents 
a variable appearance depending on the particular 
stage of the pathological process. "When 
cirrhosis is old, the surface of the liver is granu- 
lated and irregular, sometimes covered with new 
laembranes; the serous membrane is thickened, 
wtiiiish and opaque. At the beginning the colour 
of the liver is nutmeg-brown; later it turns light 
yellow, and the organ becomes ansemic. On 
Bection we find a fibrous network formed by the 
thickened connective tissue, a network the principal 
traces of which circumscribe more or less larce 
fields of the atrophied hepatic paren-chyma, whilst 
its ramifications separate the various hepatic 
lobules. . . . VVifh these alterations of the 
liver we find also a passive hyperaemia and a 
chronic catarrh of the stomach and intestine, 
ascites, anasarca, congestion of the meninges, and 
hfemorrhages in diffeiont organs-"* 
Chronic inflammation of the liver, although very 
prevalent amongst horses which graze on the veld 
in some districts of the Colony, is not so frequently 
met with amongst cattle which feed solely on 
the veld, although many cases do occur, such as 
has already been referred to. The disease is very 
common, however, amongst cattle which are 
either wholly or partially fed in the stable, especi- 
ally amongst milch cows. In some instances 
cases of chronic hardening of the liver are met 
with in which no previous history of any acute 
attack can be obtained, but in the great majority 
of cases, in which the animals have been under 
close observation by tire same owner for some 
considerable time, the animal s have suffered from 
one or more previous attacks of the illness .which 
indicated the presence of acute congestion or 
inflammation of the liver. A rather unusual case of 
this character occurred recently. The patient was 
a pure bred red polled cow which was imported 
about six months ago. She calved, either on 
board the steamer or immediately after her 
arrival, and suffered from derangement of the 
digestive organs for «6ome little time after. She 
recovered, however, and appeared to be doing 
fairly well, until about three months after, when 
she had an acute attack of inflammation of the liver. 
She made a slow and somewhat irregular recovery 
from this attack ; her appetite remained delicate 
and her bowels somewhat irregular. Latterly,' 
however, her owner reported that she was doing 
much better and feeling well. This continued 
until about five days before she died, when she 
became suddenly ill, and manifested symptoms of 
acute constipation. Suitable aperients were ad- 
ministered, but after four days' illness she began 
to strain violently. When examined the day that 
she died by Mr. Spreull, she was found lying 
down with her head turned round on her shoulder 
persistently ; her breathing was quick, and she 
strained continuously as if wanting to expel 
something; her temperature was 10ti*2, The 
rectum was inflamed, and contained a mixture of 
blood, slime, and a little very black fseces, but no 
injury could be detected. The stomachs were not 
full, nor was the abdomen tympanitic. She 
died very suddenly. The postmortem examination 
revealed the gall-bladder but ductus choledochus 
— the bile duct leading from the gall-bladder enor- 
mously enlarged and distended to its utmost 
capacity ; its contents measured fully one gallon. 
Its wall were much thickened and inflamed, but 
the ductus choledochus — the bile duct leading 
from the gall-bladder to the duodenum — was not 
obstructed, but narrowed. The greater portion 
of the contents of the g&ll-bladder closely re- 
sembled the white of an egg in its character and 
consistence and was of a light lemon colour. 
Friedberger and Frohner. 
