64S 
ON HEMORRHAGE FROM THE LIVER. 
that its peritoneal investment separates, or is so loosely adherent 
that it can be separated with the slightest force; and the cohe¬ 
siveness of the organ is so much impaired, that portions of the 
liver will rupture on handling, and the ramifications of the vessels 
may be traced by merely washing the substance*. 
During this structural disorganization, there are no monitory 
symptoms; the secretion of bile continues as usual, the excretions 
are natural and in proper quantity; and it is only after “ passive 
hoemorrhage,” the effect of the destruction of the parenchyma 
and the rupture or relaxation of the vessels, that its existence 
is detected; but at this period the diagnostic symptoms are so 
conspicuous in most cases, that the practitioner cannot fail to 
distinguish it from other diseases, as colic and staggers, for 
which it has been mistaken, provided he has in any former case 
carefully watched the symptoms, and witnessed the post-mortem 
examination. 
The symptoms vary in degree according to the profuseness or 
rapidity of the haemorrhage : if the peritoneal investment remain 
entire, the effusion of blood is more gradual and in less quantity; 
but should this coat be ruptured by its great distention, or by 
the collision of the body against the ground, from fainting or 
other causes, the bleeding* being unrestrained, continues into 
the cavity of the belly: the most urgent symptoms present them¬ 
selves, and the horse dies in some cases, within an hour after the 
first manifestation of illness, previously exhibiting the whole or 
the major part of the following:—pawing; shifting of the pos¬ 
ture ; frequent feeble pulse, sometimes distinct, at others 
scarcely distinguishable; fulness of the belly ; (pouting of the 
nose; curling of the upper lip; sighing, sometimes very fre¬ 
quent and deep; partial or general sweating, or in circum¬ 
scribed spots on different parts of the body; conjunctive and 
buccal membranes palid or quite blanched; amaurosis; faint¬ 
ing ; all which may be regarded as special characteristics of the 
complaint:) succeeding to these are great anxiety; accelerated 
respiration; restlessness; tossing up the head; tottering gait; 
extreme debility ; fainting ; death. 
* This condition of the liver bears no analogy to that of the stuffed goose 
recorded by Pliny, and alluded to by Horace, Juvenal, Martial, &c. which 
gratified the palates of the gourmands during the prosperity of the Roman 
empire, and is still prepared for our modern epicures, and sold as “ Foie 
Gras” or entering into the composition of the celebrated Strasburg pie, as 
“ Pate da Foie Gras.” By confinement, warmth, and the excessive nutri¬ 
tion of a goose, as I am informed, the liver acquires an immense volume, 
sometimes exceeding three pounds in weight, but becomes fatty, or, as it 
were, larded throughout. England is principally supplied with this article 
of diet from Strasburg and Rouen. 
