524 PROGRESS OF VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ART. 
pends on the existence of an abscess in the liver, which 
empties its contents through a fistula into the intestines ; 
the bile, mixed with pus and blood, is thus evacuated in 
quantities with the faeces. 
I remember an instructive case of rupture of the liver that 
occurred in my father’s practice, in the year 1848; it is 
recorded in one of my brother’s note-books. 
The patient was an aged chestnut pony, to which my father 
was called on the morning of Sunday, the 14th of May; he 
presented symptoms of colic, for which he was successfully 
treated. The only strange occurrence at this time was 
straining after evacuation of the faeces, w 7 ith protrusion of 
the mucous membrane of the rectum, which looked peculiarly 
white, like a gut that has been macerated in cold water for 
tw T enty-four hours ; the pony got over this attack, but on the 
1st of June a relapse occurred. 
In my father’s notes of the case, I find the following: 
“On arrival, the symptoms w 7 ere most unfavorable; pulse 
w 7 eak, breathing frequent, extremities cold, visible mucous 
membranes pale and yellowish. I had, from the last attack, 
thought this case an unusual one, and suspected derange- 
ment of the liver; however, I again administered a mild 
aperient ball, and proceeded to try the effect of the abstraction 
of a little blood : the vein was difficult to rise, and though I 
made a large opening into it with the fleam, could obtain no 
flow of blood, be}mnd a small stream, wffiich trickled down 
the sides of the pail ; not more than two ounces could have 
been taken, before the pony became oppressed in his breathing. 
I stopped, and placed my finger over the orifice ; the symp- 
toms subsided, and, as soon as the blood w 7 as allowed to 
trickle again, the same formidable signs came on ; the aper- 
ture was instantly pinned. On feeling over his body, I found 
the perspiration was breaking out, especially about his flanks 
I was then of opinion that an internal hemorrhage was going 
on, and my prognosis w 7 as most unfavorable; twitching of 
the muscles came on, the pony reeled and fell, struggled for 
some tw T enty minutes, and died.” I was with my father 
when the pony w as opened ; much clotted blood w 7 as found 
in the abdomen ; the liver was found much enlarged, nearly 
black, and its capsule had a rent in it six inches long, from 
which the blood had escaped. In some parts the liver was 
found pale and bloodless, or of a greenish hue, owing to the 
presence of bile ; the whole of the hepatic structure w^as, 
however, soft and friable. 
There are two forms of liver-softening known to us. The 
first is simple disintegration, when the liver breaks and 
