DISEASES OF THE RESPIRATORY ORGANS. 715 
effete products in the bloody with such rapidity as to lead 
to energetic symptoms of derangement; but we have still 
to reflect upon the slow development of the disease and 
the compensating functions of the kidneys and skin. How 
much of the debris is removed through these channels 
we have not sufficient facts at present to enable us to deter¬ 
mine exactly. But we may give them credit for an enormous 
capacity; and in the event of an interference with their 
action from any cause, we may anticipate the direst results. 
Something of the kind occurs, most likely, when an animal 
suffering from fatty disease of liver is attacked by influenza 
or catarrh; the immediate derangement of the functions of 
skin and kidneys will occasion the rapid contamination of 
the blood by materials wffiich, up to this, have been eliminated 
by their agency. The lungs are not equal to the removal of 
the accumulated impurities, and thus the blood, deprived of 
the ordinary methods of purification, constantly receiving 
the products of further decomposition, becomes at last in¬ 
adequate to the support of vital operations; the circulation 
loses in force; the blood collects in the lungs, deposits of 
lymph, occur, to the serious interference with the functions of 
the parts. 
Primarily, the liver disease must be estimated as a serious 
item; secondly, the loss of the compensating emunctories 
from febrile disease; and, further, the depressing action of 
the impure blood upon the brain and nervous system, pro¬ 
ducing the marked prostration. 
Thus, we have to deal with a case of very complex nature^ 
apparently a common febrile attack; but really including 
deterioration of the blood from defective assimilation, and 
imperfect elimination of impurities; a tendency to conges¬ 
tion, particularly of the lungs, leading to a gradual decrease 
of respiratory surface; and still further derangement of the 
blood from deficient supply of oxygen ; and, lastly, dimi¬ 
nished animal heat apparent over the whole surface. 
Treatment under such a combination of unfavorable 
circumstances, cannot be undertaken with any sanguine 
hopes of ultimate success; although, if the poisoning of the 
blood has not advanced too far, there is a possibility of re¬ 
storing the patient to a state of comparative health. Whe¬ 
ther the fatty degeneration of liver is a remediable disease, 
must ever be a matter of speculation. As we possess no 
positive method of diagnosis, it is not permitted to assert 
how far the disease may be curable, but we have no question 
that this state of the organ is compatible with the animal’s 
existence. 
