634 
SPLENITIS IN A HORSE. 
The clot had preserved the colour of the blood, which was of a 
very deep brown. The cohesion between the constituent parts of 
the blood was very weak. The clot was soon reduced to a species 
of deliquium as I took it in my hand to examine its physical 
properties. 
Post-mortem appearances . — Two hours after death the body ap- 
peared to be very much inflated. The pectoral organs presented 
nothing remarkable, except their deep colour — the slight consis- 
tence of the clots contained in the ventricles of the heart— a red tint 
of the internal membrane of the pulmonary veins, and of the serous 
membranes which lined the ventricles of the heart and its valves. 
On opening the abdomen, I found five pounds of blood in the 
diaphragmatic region of that cavity. I then carefully examined 
how this haemorrhage had taken place. I saw that the spleen 
was double its usual size, and presented, on its surface, three 
bloody tumours, immediately under the splenic capsule. 
One of these tumours, situated at the base of the spleen, near 
its grand scissure, was open, and had given vent to the blood 
which I had seen. It formed a wound three inches in length, 
the bottom of which presented a deep black lobulated matter, 
which cannot be better compared to any thing than to that of me- 
lanosis in its state of ramollissement. 
The second of these tumours, fifteen centimetres from the first, 
and on the same surface, was of the size of a pullet’s egg, and 
contained a thin liquid matter, which resembled the red serosity, 
or rather the water employed in the washing of flesh. The pa- 
rietes of this tumour resembled those of the preceding one. 
The third, placed on the opposite surface, and near the point 
of the organ, was divided into two lobes, and each lobe was about 
the size of an ordinary nut. It contained the same products. 
As to the general alterations in the structure of the spleen, I 
have already said that it was double its natural size : its colour 
was not changed, and its consistence, which I thought had been 
diminished, was, on the contrary, augmented, for it presented all 
the characters which M. Andral assigns to induration of the 
spleen. It was with little trouble that, after making a section 
of the organ, I arrived at and extracted what has been called 
the earthy deposit of the spleen. None of the other abdominal 
organs presented any thing worthy of interest, except the mesen- 
teric veins, and the vena portse, the serous membrane of which 
presented that red tinge of which I have spoken above. 
This appears to me to be a remarkable case of inflammation of 
the spleen in a horse. But what was the cause of this affection ? 
I confess that I am ignorant on this point. With the exception 
of the spleen, every part was in the most healthy condition. 
