248 DISEASE IN WILD MAMMALS AND BIRDS 
Sweet, (5) and Judd (6) seem to agree with the findings 
upon our material. This need not be, however, in discord 
wdth the idea that acute inflammation is superficial in 
origin, chronic lesions deep or lymphogenic. The discus- 
sion will be resumed in a subsequent paragraph. 
The amount of pancreas to be found in birds is greater 
than that in mammals. According to our figures the organ 
represents V4ootli of the body weight in the former and 
^/(joo^h in the latter. These figures are averages of a small 
number of instances and are not final. It is, however, 
ob\dous to casual daily observation that birds as a class 
have a large pancreas. 
The minute structure of the organ is governed by the 
same general rules throughout the two classes under con- 
sideration. Birds do not have as many interstitial islands 
as do mammals, but they are more compact and seem 
more definitely constructed of coiled tubules. In so far 
as the internal structure of the organ is concerned there 
has not developed in our study pathology peculiar to any 
animal. The importance of the ducts and position of the 
organ will be discussed later. 
Recognition of pancreatic disease during life is prac- 
tically impossible. In human medicine the signs and 
symptoms are vague and inconstant, (7) diagnosis often 
being a matter of exclusion. Veterinarians, except under 
the best hospital conditions make no attempt to diagnose 
pancreatic lesions but, since the improvement of surgical 
practice, at times operate upon cases of evident pain and 
distention which prove to be pancreatitis. These things 
were evident in a deer that I saw and that died on the 
following day from acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis; I 
made no attempt at this diagnosis, believing it to be acute 
tympanites. The feces were normal, according to the 
judgment of persons qualified to give an opinion. 
(5) Jour. A.M.A., 1921, 77, 194. 
(6) Ibid., 197. 
(7) Garrod, Schorstein Led., 1920. 
