CANINE DISTEMPER IN SOUTH AFRICA. 321 
eyes yellow, breath cold, pulse and breathing hurried. Several 
articles of diet and medicines were administered, but he died 
about noon. 
On inspection of the body, the following day, the general 
tissue was found yellow tinged, and very relaxed. The liver 
was deeply yellow, soft, bloodless, flabby, and not enlarged or 
altered in structure. It showed no signs of inflammation, 
which, I ma}^ here remark, seemed entirely absent from all 
parts of the body. Handling portions of the liver stained the 
hands a deep yellow colour, which did not easily come off. 
The lobules were plainly defined, from engorgement of the 
minute biliary plexuses with bile ; as, on tracing the smaller 
bile-ducts into the larger ones, they appeared like green cords, 
and were everywhere filled w r ith thick black bile, which came 
out on pressure, in the shape of casts, or like coagula out of 
the blood-vessels. The ductus choledochus and communis had 
evidently contained recently the same sort of inspissated bile, 
and their coats were coloured black, and had probably befen 
evacuated before death by the action of the emetic. 
The gall-bladder, unevacuated, was filled with thick black 
bile, like tar. The next remarkable point in the examination 
was an immensely enlarged spleen, extending from the 
diaphragm to the brim of the pelvis, which was about the 
thickness of an ordinary man’s arm. The stretched tunic 
contained a diffluent mass of grumous blood, with shreds and 
fibres, which poured out like thick dark mud when the tissue 
was cut. Pancreas was healthy, and not stained yellow. 
Kidneys were bright yellow, and a knife scraped off the 
section a thick yellowish fluid. The bladder was full, and 
contained yellowish-coloured urine, which stained the 
fingers. Stomach was healthy, except in a few congestive 
patches. The duodenum was filled with a thick dark-brown 
muculent bile, which extended into the small intestines, and 
gradually faded off, so that there was none in the ileum or 
rectum. A small congestive patch appeared here and there 
along the course of the intestines, seen both on the villous 
and mucous coats, and reflected through the peritoneal one. 
The heart was healthy, but flabby, and its cavities contained 
black coagula. The aortic lining membrane was tinged 
reddish-yellow ; and the lungs were collapsed, soft, and con- 
tained but little blood. 
Remarks . — The question may be, where did this disease, a 
type of the general distemper, originate, in the liver or in the 
spleen ? Most probably in the liver, and was occasioned by 
non-elimination of bile from the biliary plexus and ducts, 
and in its absorption and retention in the circulation. Either 
