CHROMIC DISEASE OF LIVER. 
83 
the animal had been stuck. The heart was healthy, but the 
liver was dark in colour and very easily broken down. On 
cutting through the large blood-vessels, but very little blood 
escaped, indeed there appeared to be hardly as many ounces 
as there should be quarts. My opinion was that haemor¬ 
rhage had been taking place from the liver for some time 
without it being seen. 
The mare was about twelve years old, and was six months 
gone in foal. The foetus was fully developed, i, e. according 
to its age. 
REMARKS BY ASSISTANT-PROFESSOR VARNELL. 
The above case appears to me to be highly interesting, 
and I am not aware of an analogous one being recorded. I 
can, however, easily conceive that such cases are by no 
means rare ; but in consequence of post-mortem examina¬ 
tions being very often carelessly performed, or perhaps not 
made at all, they have been overlooked, 
Those of us who are familiar with the habits of the men 
who have the charge of our common working horses, espe¬ 
cially such as are used for agricultural purposes, have had fre¬ 
quent opportunities of observing that as long as the poor 
animals do not wholly refuse their food, and can, by the aid 
of a little extra whipping, be made to perform their work, 
no thoughts of their being out of health ever comes into 
their minds. I am induced to make this remark, because 
I think it very probable that the mare in question had been 
unwell for some time, and perhaps even from the period 
when her foal was weaned. We can easily understand that 
the liver may have become surcharged with blood from a 
retrocession of that fluid from the exterior of the body, and 
also from the mammary gland, which had hitherto been 
largely supplied with blood for the secretion of milk. Such 
retrocession would lead to accumulation of the blood in the 
large vascular glands internally placed, and thus congestion 
of the liver would follow, which, however, would most likely 
be passive in its nature. The spleen, also, although not 
alluded to, I should think was somewhat enlarged. 
The liver is described by Mr. Hirst as being dark in 
colour, soft in structure, and easily broken down with the 
finger. We are not informed, however, if, when a section 
was made through its structure, bile was observed to flow 
from the cut ends of the hepatic ducts, producing a number 
of yellowish spots on the cut surface. I can imagine that 
such was not the case, but, on the contrary, that a brownish- 
