EPITHELIAL CANCER OF THE BLADDER. 315 
[Up to the present time, veterinary pathologists have made 
but little progress towards a proper classification of cancerous 
diseases. Indeed, we have good reasons to believe that 
many affections of the lower animals have been designated 
cancer when few symptoms were present to justify the 
conclusion; moreover, that many instances of ve’ritable 
cancer have been passed by unheeded, or thought to be merely 
cases of ordinary tumour. It is only by bringing together 
well-authenticated instances of this malignant disease, and 
properly investigating the elementary structures of doubtful 
cases, that we can hope to arrive at a better knowledge of 
this formidable class of maladies. 
Human pathology has but just emancipated herself from the 
thraldom of ignorance which beset her path in this respect, 
and may we not add that now she looks to veterinary patho- 
logy to aid her onward progress. For these reasons, we 
regard the case which Messrs. Shorten here record, as one 
of much interest ; and through them we are enabled to add 
the following particulars of the specimen. Its weight was 
two lbs. and three quarters avoirdupois; its diameter five 
inches, and its length eight inches, six of which were occu- 
pied by cancerous deposit ; the coats of the remaining por- 
tion of the bladder, towards its neck, being in a normal 
condition. Externally, it had a nodulated appearance, and 
in the hollows between the three principal convexities, a 
deposition of healthy fatty matter had taken place. The 
free surface of the peritoneal coat of the bladder was unchanged, 
but its substance was thickened, more so however in some 
places than in others. The muscular coat was hypertrophied 
throughout, and the fasciculi of fibres strongly marked here 
and there, while in others all trace of them was lost in the 
cancerous deposit. On turning back the neck of the organ, 
so as to expose its interior, the mucous coat was seen to be 
of a florid hue, and to be elevated in the form of warty ex- 
crescences, which were exceedingly numerous. Its surface 
throughout was unbroken, except in two places where the 
sloughing process had commenced. Here the mucous mem- 
brane and the cancerous substance itself were ragged, and of 
a dirty brown colour. On replacing the neck of the bladder, 
and pouring water into its interior, it was found to contain 
not more than three ounces of fluid. A section being carried 
through the substance of the deposit, and which had a firm- 
ness nearly equal to that of soft cheese, exposed a greyish- 
white surface, from which could be squeezed a semi-fluid 
matter having the consistence of thick cream. This was found 
to be contained in canals and cysts, which permeated the 
