On some points relating to the anatomy and habits of the Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus), and on the presence of intestinal glands not before noticed / by Edwards Crisp.

  • Crisp, Edwards, 1806-1882.
Date:
[1865]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On some points relating to the anatomy and habits of the Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus), and on the presence of intestinal glands not before noticed / by Edwards Crisp. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    base to the apex. The parietes of the left ventricle are 1 £ inch in thickness, and the septum measures the same. The parietes of the right ventricle are 8 lines in thickness. The tricuspid valve is formed by the expansion of ten tendinous slips, which proceed from two elevations (corneae columnae) of the right ventricle. There is no heart-bone, as in many of the ruminants ; and the apex of the heart is less pointed than in the Antelopes and Cermdce. The lungs present the most remarkable specimen of disease that I have met with in these organs. They both have a whitish nodu- lated appearance, and contain scarcely a square inch of healthy structure, the general mass being made up of hard tubercles con- taining a large proportion of earthy matter. The lungs are about of equal size, and the right (the only one I put into the scale) weighed 20^ lbs., a great proportion of this being made up of carbonate of lime. The bronchial glands are much enlarged, and are composed of a larger proportion of earthy matter than the lungs. This dis- position to the formation of earthy matter in the lungs is very com- mon in the ruminants. I have met with it to a great extent in the Leucoryx and in other Antelopes; and in the common sheep the Echinococcus-cysts are often converted into chalky and ossific material. As this Society is both zoological and physiological, let me digress for a moment to point out the beautiful law of com- pensation that exists in all animal bodies, so that when one organ is impaired, or, as in this instance, almost destroyed, one or more parts take on a compensatory action. In this case the blood was aerated by the lining membrane of the trachea and by that of the larger bronchial tubes, the process of depuration being performed chiefly by the liver (which was normal in structure) and by the intestinal glands. I have seen numerous examples of this in the Quadrumana and in other orders. The normal structure of the lungs may be almost entirely destroyed by disease, and the animal may linger on for a long period; but when both lungs and liver are seriously af- fected, life is soon terminated. There is one practical and useful fact that I have alluded to in a former paper, in connexion with tubercle in the lower animals, viz. that it is much more prevalent in the vegetable feeders. Mr. Gilchrist, in his essay on the ‘ Diseases of the Camel ’ (India, 1846), does not mention the presence of tubercle in the lungs or in other parts, this lesion being probably the result, as in other animals, of close confinement, and often, in travelling menageries, of a vi- tiated atmosphere. The liver weighs 23| lbs. It consists mainly of one lobe, with two slight divisions. The under surface is curiously formed into several thin flaps, which pass in a horizontal direction. No gall- bladder is present, and, with the exception of three tubercles, the viscus is in a normal state. The spleen weighs 25 ozs., and is of the usual fan-like shape that it assumes in most of the ruminants. The splenic vein contains five pairs of valves; these are also present in the gastric and abdominal veins. [4]