SPLENITJS IN THE OX. 
4;3i 
was impossible for them to ruminate. Having arrived at the 
place where they were to take up their loading, he lost no 
time in attaching them to a carriage more heavily laden than it 
ought to have been. 
The air had been cold and damp in the morning ; but as they 
returned about ten o’clock, drawing a load above their strength, 
the sun broke out unclouded. Harassed and devoured by in¬ 
sects, half suffocated by dust, and exposed to a south wind, 
which deprived them of their strength and rarefied their blood, 
they began to pant dreadfully. The one who is the subject of 
this narrative fell; he was forced to get up, and then it was 
perceived that his belly was much swelled. The conductor, it 
would seem, was eager to bring him to me, that I might remedy 
what he thought was a case of simple hoove; he therefore 
goaded him on until he reached my inhrniary, but the moment 
he was freed from the voke he fell and died. 
Examination, two hoars after death .—The paunch contained 
a great quantity of ears of maize, scarcely masticated. Many 
pounds of blood were effused in the abdomen. The spleen was 
very much enlarged, and ruptured in several places at its pos¬ 
terior border; its texture was soft, friable, and distended with 
blood. Several small spots of inflammation were visible on the 
peritoneum. The liver was enlarged, black, and friable. The 
lungs presented a white surface, as in animals that die from loss 
of blood. The cavities of the heart contained very little blood. 
Chronic Splenitis. 
Splenitis becomes chronic, when from the beginning it has 
possessed little intensity ; when the cause that produced it con¬ 
tinues to act, but with little energy; and it becomes equally so 
if the cause acts periodically : disorganization of the organ, how¬ 
ever, is not the inevitable consequence. Lesions of this viscus 
are never found alone : if the spleen becomes scirrhous or tuber¬ 
culous, we may be assured that we shall find the same changes 
in other viscera. 
An ox, six years old, always thin, and having its coat staring, 
although well fed, was employed in work on the road. He had 
a companion whose slowness was a striking contrast to his 
quickness of pace; so that the first was always at work, and 
supported almost the whole of the labour. 
Every day, after having worked one or two hours, he appeared 
to be fatigued, and his left flank began to swell: sometimes 
rumination went on while he was in this state; but at other 
times, w'hen the swelling was greater than usual, rumination 
was suspended. This enlargement of the spleen ordinarily 
