Cattle 1853 - Lewis Family Farm

CHAPTER XIII.
THE ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE SPLEEN, LIVER, AND
PANCREAS.
THE SPLEEN.
The spleen, or melt, is a long, thin, dark-colored substance, situated
on the left side, attached to the rumen, and between that stomach
and the diaphragm. It is closely tied to the stomach by bloodvessels,
and cellular texture. It is of a uniform ^ize through its whole
extent, except that it is rounded at both ends. Of its use we are, in
a manner, ignorant ; it has been removed without any apparent injury
to digestion. Its artery is large and tortuous, and its vein is of great
size, and forms a considerable portion of that which conveys the blood
from the other contents of the abdomen to the liver. It is probably
connected either with the functions of the liver, or with the supply
of some principle essential to the blood.
It is subject to various diseases, inflammation, ulceration, increased
size, tubercles, hydatids, ossification ; but in the present state of cat-
tle medicine it is impossible to state the symptoms by which the
greater part of these are characterized.
The occasional seat of disease, the spleen, and which is found most
especially to have suffered, is too frequently overlooked. A beast in
high condition, over-driven, or placed in too luxuriant pasture, is
suddenly taken ill ; he staggers ; his respiration becomes laborious ;
his mouth is covered with foam ; the tongue burns ; he stands with
his head stretched out, laboring for breath ; he moans ; blood escapes
from the nostrils or the anus ; the disease runs its course in the
space of a few hours, and the animal dies. On opening him, the
vessels beneath the skin are all gorged with blood ; the skin itself is
injected and red ; the lungs and abdominal viscera are congested
with blood ; the liver.is gorged with it. It is inflammatory fevei
that has destroyed the animal ; but the speen is most of all affected
and disorganized—it is augmented in size, softened, its peritoneal
covering torn, and blood has pushed from it and filled the belly ; or
the blood has oozed through the investment without any visible
rupture.
In such a malady, the skill of the practitioner can be of little avail.
Had the peculiar determination