Chapter XII (2)

of the dog seems to follow a law of comparative anatomy, that its bulk shall be in an inverse proportion of that of the lungs. The latter are necessarily capacious; for they need a large supply of arterial blood, in order to answer to their rapid expenditure when the utmost exertion of strength and speed is required. The liver is, therefore, restricted in its size and growth. Nevertheless, it has an important duty to fulfil, namely, to receive the blood that is returned from the intestines, to separate from the blood, or to secrete, by means of it, the bile; and then to transmit the remaining portion of it to the lungs, where it undergoes the usual process of purification, and is changed to arterial blood. In the performance of this office, the liver often undergoes a state of inflammation, and disease ensues, inveterate, and setting at defiance every means of cure. Both the skin and the urine become tinged with a yellow effusion. The animal is dull, and gradually wastes away.

In a few days the yellow hue becomes more intense, and particularly on the cuticle, the conjunctiva, the iris, the gums, and the lips. A state of fever becomes more and more perceptible, and there are alternations of cold and heat. The pulse varies from 80 to 120; the dry tongue hangs from the mouth; the appetite ceases, but the animal is peculiarly desirous of cold water. The dog becomes restless; he seeks to hide himself; and he groans, if the parts in the neighbourhood of the liver are pressed upon.

Frequent vomitings now appear, slimy, and evidently containing gall. The animal becomes visibly thinner, obstinately refuses all solid food, and only manifests thirst. He begins to stagger as he walks; he withdraws himself from observation; he anxiously seeks some dark place where he may lay himself with his chest and belly resting on the cold ground, his fore legs stretched out before him, and his hind legs almost as far behind him. The fever increases, the skin becomes of a dark yellow colour, the mucous membrane of the mouth and conjunctiva is of a dirty red, the expired air is evidently hot, the gaze is anxious, the urine is of a saffron yellow, or even darker: in short, there now appears every symptom of inflammation of the liver, with jaundice.

As the disease proceeds the animal begins to vomit masses of a yellowish green substance, occasionally mixed with blood. He wastes away to a skeleton, he totters in his walk, he is half unconscious, the pulse becomes weak and interrupted, the temperature sinks, and death ensues.

The duration and course of the disease are deceptive. It occasionally proceeds so insidiously that several days are suffered to pass before the owner perceives any marks of disease, or seeks any aid. The duration of the disease is usually from ten to twelve days. It terminates in congestion of blood in the liver, or a gradual restoration to health. The latter can only take place in cases where the inflammation has proceeded very slowly; where the commencement and progress of the disease could be discovered by debility and slight yellowness of the skin, and especially where speedy recourse has been had to medical aid.

The predisposing causes of this disease are often difficult to discover. The dog, in warm climates, seems to have a natural disposition to it. As exciting causes, atmospheric influence may be reckoned, sultry days, cold nights, and damp weather. Other occasional causes may be found in violent falls, bruises, and overfeeding. Fat petted dogs that are easily overheated by exertion are often attacked by this disease. The result of the disease depends on its duration, course, and complication. If it is attended to early, it can generally be cured. If it has existed for several days, and the fever has taken on a typhoid character--if the yellow hue is perceptible--the appetite failing, and vomiting ensuing, the cure is doubtful; and, if inflammation of the stomach has taken place, with high fever, vomiting of blood, wasting away, and fits occurring, there is no chance of cure.

When simple jaundice alone is visible, a moderate laxative of sulphate of magnesia and tartaric acid, in conjunction with some aromatic and mucilaginous fluid, or, quite in the beginning of the disease, an emetic, will be found of considerable service; but, when the yellow colour has become more intense, and the animal will no longer eat, and the fever and weakness are increased, it is necessary to give calomel, tartar-emetic, camphor, and opium, in the form of pills, and to rub some strong liniment on the region of the liver: the doses of calomel, however, must be very small. If inflammation of the stomach appears, mucilaginous fluids only must be given. Bleeding may be of service in the commencement of the disease, but afterward it is hurtful.

This is an account of hepatitis as it occasionally appears, and particularly on the Continent; but it does not often assume so virulent a character in our country. There is often restlessness, thirst, and sickness, accompanied by much prostration of strength; or general heat and tenderness. Occasionally there is purging; but much oftener constipation, that bids defiance to almost every medicine. The principal or almost only hope of cure consists in bleeding, physicking, and blistering on the right side.

Of bilious disease, assuming the character of inflammation, we have too many cases. It may be spontaneous or brought on by the agency of other affections. Long-continued and inveterate mange will produce it. It is often connected with, or produced by, distemper, or a dull inflammatory disease of the liver, and it is generally accompanied by pustular eruption on the belly. The skin is usually tinged of a yellow hue, and the urine is almost invariably impregnated with bile. The suffusion which takes place is recognised among sportsmen by the term "yellows." The remedy should be some mercurial, with gentian and aloes given twice in the day, and mercurial ointment well rubbed in once in the day. If this treatment is steadily pursued, and a slight soreness induced in the mouth, the treatment will usually be successful. Mr. Blaine observes,

"A moderate soreness of the mouth is to be encouraged and kept up. I
have never succeeded in removing the complaint without it."

JAUNDICE.

M. W. Leblanc, of Paris, has given an interesting account of the causes and treatment of 'jaundice' in the dog.

The prevailing symptom of this disease in the dog is a yellow discoloration of the skin and the mucous membranes of greater or less intensity. It generally announces the existence of very serious disease, as inflammation of the liver and its excretory ducts, or of the gall-bladder, or the stomach, or small intestines, or contraction or 'obliteration' of the excretory ducts of the liver, in consequence of inflammation of these vessels, or the presence of concrete substances formed from the bile. The dogs in which he found the most decided traces of this disease laboured under diarrhea, with stools of a reddish brown or black colour for one, two or three days.

The causes of jaundice are chiefly over-fatigue (thus, greyhounds are more subject to it than pointers), immersions in water, fighting, emetics or purgatives administered in over-doses, the repeated use of poisonous substances not sufficiently strong at once to destroy the animal, the swallowing of great quantities of indigestible food, and contusions of the abdominal viscera, especially about the region of the liver. The most serious, if not the most common cause, is cold after violent and long-continued exercise; and especially when the owners of dogs, seeing them refuse their food after a long chase, give them powerful purgatives or emetics.

The treatment should have strict relation to the real or supposed cause of jaundice, and its most evident concomitant circumstances. Some of these symptoms are constant and others variable. Among the first, whatever be the cause of the disease, we reckon acceleration of the pulse; fever, with paroxysms of occasional intensity; and a yellow or reddish-yellow discoloration of the urine. Among the second are constipation, diarrhoea, the absence or increase of colour in the faecal matter, whether solid or fluid. When they are solid, they are usually void of much colour; when, on the contrary, there is diarrhea, the fæces are generally mingled with blood more or less changed. Sometimes the dejections are nearly black, mixed with mucus. It is not unusual for a chest affection to be complicated with the lesions of the digestive organs, which are the cause of jaundice.

With these leading symptoms there are often others connected that are common to many diseases; such as dryness and heat of the mouth, a fetid smell, a staggering gait, roughness of the hair, and particularly of that of the back; an insatiable thirst, accompanied by the refusal of all food; loss of flesh, which occasionally proceeds with astonishing rapidity; a tucked-up flank, with hardness and tenderness of the anterior part of the belly.

The jaundice which is not accompanied with fever, nor indeed with any morbid change but the colour of the skin, will require very little treatment. It will usually disappear in a reasonable time, and M. Leblanc has not found that any kind of treatment would hasten that disappearance.

When any new symptom becomes superadded to jaundice, it must be immediately combated. Fever, injection of the vessels of the conjunctiva, constipation, diarrhoea, or the discoloration of the urine, require one bleeding at least, with some mucilaginous drinks. Purgatives are always injurious at the commencement of the disease.

"I consider," says M. Leblanc, "this fact to be of the utmost
importance. Almost the whole of the dogs that have been brought to me
seriously ill with jaundice, have been purged once or more; and either
kitchen salt, or tobacco, or jalap, or syrup of buckthorn, or emetic
tartar, or some unknown purgative powders, have been administered.

"Bleeding should be resorted to, and repeated if the fever continues,
or the animal coughs, or the respiration be accelerated. When the
pulse is subdued, and the number of pulsations are below the natural
standard--if the excrements are still void of their natural colour--if
the constipation continues, or the animal refuses to feed--an ounce of
manna dissolved in warm water should be given, and the dog often
drenched with linseed tea. If watery diarrhoea should supervene, and
the belly is not hot nor tender, a drachm or more, according to the
size of the dog, of the sulphate of magnesia or soda should be
administered, and this medicine should be repeated if the purging
continues; more especially should this aperient be had recourse to
when the fæces are more or less bloody, there being no fever nor
peculiar tenderness of the belly.

"When the liquid excrement contains much blood, and that blood is of a
deep colour, all medicines given by the mouth should be suspended, and
frequent injections should be thrown up, consisting of thin starch,
with a few drops of laudanum. Too much cold water should not be
allowed in this stage of the disease. Injections, and drinks composed
of starch and opium, are the means most likely to succeed in the black
diarrhoea, which is so frequent and so fatal, and which almost always
precedes the fatal termination of all the diseases connected with
jaundice.

"In simple cases of jaundice the neutral salts have seldom produced
much good effect; but I have obtained considerable success from the
diascordium, in doses of half a drachm to a drachm.

"Great care should be taken with regard to the diet of the dog that
has had jaundice, with bloody or black diarrhoea; for the cases of
relapse are frequent and serious and almost always caused by improper
or too abundant food. A panada of bread, with a little butter, will
constitute the best nourishment when the dog begins to recover his
appetite. From this he may be gradually permitted to return to his
former food. Most especially should the animal not be suffered to take
cold, or to be left in a low or damp situation. This attention to the
food of the convalescent dog may be thought to be pushed a little too
far; but experience has taught me to consider it of the utmost
importance, and it is neither expensive nor troublesome."

THE SPLEEN AND PANCREAS.

The spleen is generally regarded as an appendage to the absorbent system. Tiedemann and Gmelin consider that its specific function is to secrete from the blood a fluid which possesses the property of coagulation, and which is carried to the thoracic duct, and then, being united with the chyle, converts it into blood, and causes an actual communication between the arterial and absorbent systems. According, however, to Dr. Bostock, there is a fatal objection to this, namely, that animals have been known to live an indefinite length of time after the removal of the spleen, without any obvious injury to their functions, which could not have been the case if the spleen had been essentially necessary for so important a process.

A knowledge of the diseases of the spleen in the dog appears to be less advanced than in any other animal. In the cases that I have seen, the earliest indications were frequent vomiting, and the discharge of a yellow, frothy mucus. The animal appeared uneasy, shivering, the ears cold, the eyes unnaturally protuberant, the nostrils dilated, the flanks agitated, the respiration accelerated, and the mucous membranes pale. The best treatment I know is the administration, twice in the day, of a ball composed of a grain of calomel and the same quantity of aloes, and five grains of ginger. The dog frequently cries out, both when he is moved and when he lies on his bed. In the course of three days the yellow mucus is generally disappearing, and the expression of pain is materially diminished.

If the bowels are much constipated after two days have passed, two scruples of aloes may be given, and a grain of calomel; frequent injections may also be administered.

We are almost totally ignorant of the functions of the 'pancreas'. It probably is concerned in assimilating the food, and converting the chyme of the stomach into chyle.

INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEY

is a serious and dangerous malady. This organ is essentially vascular in its texture; and although it is small in volume, yet, on account of the quantity of blood which it contains, and the rapidity with which its secretions are performed, it is disposed to frequent and dangerous inflammation. The immediate causes of inflammatory action in this viscus are blows and contusions in the lumbar region; hard work long continued, and the imprudent use of stimulating substances employed as aphrodisiacs; the presence of calculi in the kidney, and the arrest of the urine in the bladder. The whole of the kidney may be affected with anæmia or defect of blood, or this may be confined to the cortical substance, or even to the tubular. The kidneys are occasionally much larger than usual, without any other change of structure; or simple hypertrophy may affect but one of them. They are subject to atrophy, which may be either general or partial; or one of the kidneys may be completely wanting, and this evidently the consequence of violence or disease.

Hydatids, though seldom met with in the human kidney, are not unfrequently found in that of the dog. All these are circumstances that have not received sufficient attention.

CALCULOUS CONCRETIONS

are of more frequent occurrence than is generally imagined, but they are not confined to the kidneys; there is scarcely a portion of the frame in which they have not been found, particularly in the brain, the glandular substance, and the coats of the intestines.

I cannot say with Mr. Blaine that I have seen not less than 40 or 50 calculi in my museum; but I have seen too many fearful examples of the complaint. There has been usually great difficulty in the urinary evacuation; and at length one of the calculi enters the urethra, and so blocks up the flow of the urine that mortification ensues.

M. Lautour relates a case of renal calculus in a dog. He had occasionally voided his urine with some difficulty, and had walked slowly and with evident pain. August 30, 1827, a sudden exacerbation came on, and the dog was dreadfully agitated. He barked and rolled himself on the ground almost every minute; be made frequent attempts to void his urine, which came from him drop by drop. When compelled to walk, his hind and fore legs seemed to mingle together, and his loins were bent into a perfect curve; his flanks were drawn in; he could scarcely be induced to eat; and he evidently suffered much in voiding his fæces. Mild and demulcent liquids were his only food. Warm baths and injections were applied almost unceasingly, and in eight days he seemed to have perfectly gained his health.

In March, in the following year, the symptoms returned with greater intensity. His hind limbs were dragged after him; he rapidly lost flesh, and his howlings were fearful and continuous. The same mode of treatment was adopted without any good effect, and, his cries continuing, he was destroyed.

The stomach and intestines were healthy. The bladder was enlarged from the thickness and induration of its parietes; the mucous membrane of it was covered with ecchymoses; the kidneys were three or four times their natural size; and the pelvis contained a calculus weighing 126 grains, composed of 58 grains of uric acid and 58 of ammonia, with 10 grains of phosphate of lime.

Of the nature and causes of urinary calculi in the bladder we know very little. We only know that some solid body finds its way or is formed there, gradually increases in size, and at length partially or entirely occupies the bladder. Boerhaave has given a singular and undeniable proof of this. He introduced a small round pebble into the bladder of a dog. The wound perfectly healed. A few months afterwards the animal was killed, and there was found a calculus of considerable size, of which the pebble was the nucleus.

Occasionally the pressure of the bladder on the calculus which it contains is exceedingly great, so much so, indeed, as to crush the calculus. A small calculus may sometimes be forcibly extracted, or cut down upon and removed; but when the calculus is large, a catheter or bougie must be passed up the penis as far as the curve in the urethra, and then somewhat firmly held with the left hand, and pressing against the urethra. A scalpel should be taken, and an incision made into the urethra. The catheter being now withdrawn, and the finger or a pair of forceps introduced into the bladder, the calculus may be grasped and extracted.

There are some instances in which as many as 20 or 30 small calculi have been taken from the bladder of a dog. Twice I have seen calculi absolutely crushed in the bladder of a dog; and Mr. Blaine says that he found no fewer than 40 or 50 in the bladder of a Newfoundland dog. One of them had passed out into the urethra, and had so blocked up the passage that the flow of urine was prevented, and the animal died of mortification.

With much pleasure I refer to the details of Mr. Blaine with regard to the management of 'vesical calculi'.

"When a small calculus," says he, "obstructs the urethra, and can be
felt, it may be attempted to be forced forward through the urethra to
the point of the penis, whence it may be extracted by a pair of
forceps. If it cannot be so moved, it may be cut down upon and removed
with safety; but when one or more stones are within the bladder, we
must attempt lithotomy, after having fully satisfied ourselves of
their existence there by the introduction of the sound; to do which it
must be remembered that the urethra of the dog in passing the bladder
proceeds nearly in a direct line backwards, and then, making an acute
angle, it passes again forwards to the bladder. It must be therefore
evident, that when it becomes necessary to introduce a catheter,
sound, or bougie, it must first be passed up the penis to the
extremity of this angle; the point of the instrument must then be cut
down upon, and from this opening the instrument may be readily passed
forward into the bladder. The examination made, and a stone detected,
it may, if a very small one, be attempted to be pushed forward by
means of a finger passed up the anus into the urethra; but, as this
could be practicable only where the dog happened to be a large one, it
is most probable that nothing short of the operation of lithotomy
would succeed. To this end, the sound being introduced, pass a very
small gorget, or otherwise a bistoury, along its groove into the
bladder, to effect an opening sufficient to admit of the introduction
of a fine pair of forceps, by which the stone may be laid up and
extracted."
'Blaine's Canine Pathology', p. 180.

INFLAMMATION OF THE BLADDER

is of frequent occurrence in the dog; it is also occasionally observed in the horse and the ox. It sometimes appears as an epizootic. It is generally announced by anxiety, agitation, trembling of the hinder limbs, frequent attempts to urine, vain efforts to accomplish it, the evacuation small in quantity, sometimes clear and aqueous, and at other times mucous, laden with sediment, thick and bloody, escaping by jets, painfully and with great difficulty, and then suddenly rushing out in great quantity. To this list of symptoms colic may often be added. The animal drinks with avidity, but seldom eats much, unless at the commencement of the complaint. The skin is hard and dry, he looks at his flanks, and his back and flanks are tender when pressed upon.

During the latter portion of my connexion with Mr. Blaine, this disease assumed an epidemic character. There was a great drought through almost every part of the country. The disease was characterised by general uneasiness; continual shifting of the posture; a tucked-up appearance; an anxious countenance; a quick and noisy pulse; continued panting; the urine voided in small quantities, sometimes discharged drop by drop, or complete stoppage of it. The belly hot, swelled, and tender to the touch; the dog becoming strangely irritable, and ready to bite even his master.

'1st May', 1824.--Two dogs had been making ineffectual attempts to void their urine for nearly two days. The first was a terrier, and the other a Newfoundland. The terrier was bled, placed in a warm bath, and an aloetic ball, with calomel, administered. He was bled a second time in the evening, and a few drops of water were discharged. On the following day, the urine slowly passed involuntarily from him; but when he attempted to void any, his efforts were totally ineffectual. Balls composed of camphor, pulv. uva ursi, tinct. ferri mur., mass purg., and pulv. lini. et gum. arab., were administered morning, noon, and night.

On the 5th the urine still passed involuntarily. Cold lotions were employed, and tonic and astringent medicines administered, with castor oil. He gradually got well, and no trace of the disease remained until June the 6th, when he again became thin and weak, and discharged much bloody urine, but apparently without pain. The uva ursi, oak bark, and powdered gum-arabic were employed.

On the 12th he had become much better, and so continued until the 1st of July, when he again exhibited the same complaint more violently than before. He was exceedingly tender on the loins, and screamed when he was touched. He was bled, returned to his uva ursi and powdered gum, and recovered. I saw him two years afterwards apparently well.

The Newfoundland dog exhibited a similar complaint, with nearly the same accompaniments.

'May' 1.--He was disinclined to move; his belly was hard and hot, and he was supposed to be costive. Gave an aloetic ball with iron.

2d. He has endeavoured, in vain, several times to void his urine. He walks stiffly with his back bound. Subtract eight ounces of blood; give another physic-ball, and apply cold affusion to the loins.

3d. He frequently attempts to stale, and passes a little urine at each time; he still walks and stands with his back bound. Syr. papav. et rhamni, with tinct. ferr. mur., a large spoonful being given morning and night.

4th. He again tries, ineffectually, to void his urine. Mist. et pulv.

5th. Unable to void a drop of urine; nose hot; tongue hangs down; pants considerably; will not eat; the countenance has an anxious character. Bleed to twelve ounces; apply cold affusion. Medicine as before, with cold affusion.

6th. Appears to be in very great pain; not a drop of water has passed from him. Medicine and other treatment as before. In the evening he lay down quietly. On the next morning he was found dead. All the viscera were sound except the bladder, which was ruptured; the abdomen contained two quarts of bloody fluid. The mucous membrane of the bladder appeared to be in the highest state of inflammation. It was almost black with extravasated blood. On the neck of the bladder was an enlargement of the size of a goose's egg, and almost filling the cavity of the pelvis. On cutting into it, more than two ounces of pus escaped.

On June 29, 1833, a poodle was brought to me. He had not been observed to pass any urine for two days. He made frequent attempts to void it, and cried dreadfully. The bladder could be felt distended in the abdomen. I put him into a warm bath, and took from him a pound of blood. He seemed to be a little relieved. I did not leave him until after midnight, but was soon roused by his loud screams, and the dog was also retching violently. The cries and retching gradually abated, and he died. The bladder had burst, and the parietes were in a dreadful state of inflammation.

A dog had laboured under incontinence of urine more than two months. The water was continually dropping from him. The servant told me that, three months before, he had been shut into a room two days, and, being a cleanly animal, would not stale until he was liberated. Soon after that the incontinence of urine was observed. I gave the usual tonic balls, with a small portion of opium, night and morning, and ordered cold water to be frequently dashed on the perinæum. A month afterwards he was quite well.

Comparatively speaking, 'profuse staling' is not a common disease, except when it is the consequence of bad food, or strong diuretics, or actual inflammation. The cause and the result of the treatment are often obscure. Bleeding, purging, and counter irritation, would be indicated to a certain extent, but the lowering system must not be carried too far. The medicine would probably be catechu, uva ursi, and opium.

At times blood mingles with the urine, with or without coagulation. The cause and the source of it may or may not be determined. Generally speaking it is the result of some strain or blow.

A terrier bitch, in January, 1820, had incontinence of urine. No swelling or injury could be detected. I used with her the simple tonic balls.

10th January'.--She is now considerably better, and only a few drops are observed.

2d February'.--The disease which had seemingly been conquered began again to reappear; the medicine had been neglected. Again have recourse to it.

4'th March'.--The disease now appears to be quite checked by the cold lotion and the balls.

A CASE OF RUPTURE OF THE BLADDER

This is a singular account, and stands almost alone.

The patient was a valuable spaniel belonging to that breed known as "The Duke of Norfolk's," and now possessed in its full perfection by the Earl of Albemarle. Professor Simonds shall give his own account:

I was informed that almost from a puppy to the time when he was two years old, the dog had always been delicate in his appearance, and was observed to void his urine with difficulty; but there were not sufficient indications of disease for the owner to suppose that medical attendance was necessary until within a few days of his death, and then, finding that the act of staling was effected with increased difficulty, and accompanied with extreme pain; that the dog refused his food, was feverish; that at length there were frequent or ineffective efforts to expel the urine, the dog crying out from extremity of pain, and it was sufficiently evident that great mischief was going on, he was placed under my care; and even then he was walked a mile and a half to my infirmary.

My attention was immediately directed to him; the man who brought him informing me that he seemed much easier since he left home. On examination, I at once pronounced that he could not recover; in fact, that he was rapidly sinking; but, from his then state, I could give no opinion with regard to the precise nature or extent of his disease. He was placed upon a bed in an appropriate apartment, with directions not to be disturbed, and in a few hours he died.

The 'post-mortem' appearances were the abdomen containing from four to five pints of fluid, having much the character of, but more bloody than, that found in cases of ascites. The peritoneum seemed to be dyed from its immersion in this fluid, as it showed a general red hue, not apparently deeper in some parts than in others. There was an absence, to a great extent, of that beautiful appearance and well-marked course of the minute blood-vessels which accompany many cases of original peritonitis. Extending the examination, I found the bladder to be ruptured, and that the fluid of which I have spoken was to a large extent composed of urine, mingled with some other secretion from the peritoneal investure of the abdomen and its viscera, probably produced from the presence of an irritant, the urine being brought into direct contact with the membrane. Farther research showed that this rupture of the bladder was caused in the manner which I have stated. The 'post-mortem' examination displayed a chronic enlargement of the prostate gland of a considerable size, causing by its pressure a mechanical obstruction to the passage of the urine. Death in this instance was not immediately brought about by the abnormal state of the original organ affected; but the prostate gland, having early in the life of the animal become diseased, and, being gradually increased in size, became a cause of still more serious disease, attacking more important organs.

WORMS.

There are various kinds of worms to which the dog is subject; they have occasionally been confounded with each other; but they are essentially different in the situations which they occupy, and the effects which they produce.

The 'ascarides' are small thread-like worms, generally not more than six or ten lines in length, of a white colour, the head obtuse, and the tail terminating in a transparent prolongation. They are principally found in the rectum. They seem to possess considerable agility; and the itching which they set up is sometimes absolutely intolerable. To relieve this, the dog often drags the fundament along the ground.

All the domesticated animals are subject to the annoyance which these worms occasion. They roll themselves into balls as large as a nut, and become entangled so much with each other that it is difficult to separate them. Sometimes they appear in the stomach, and in such large masses that it is almost impossible to remove them by the act of vomiting. It has been said that packets of ascarides have been collected in the stomach containing more than one hundred worms. These collections are rarely or never got entirely rid of. Enormous doses of medicine may be given, and the worms may not be seen again for several weeks; but, at length, they reappear as numerous as ever.

Young dogs are exceedingly subject to them, and are with great difficulty perfectly freed from their attacks. Another species of worm is the 'teres'. It would resemble the earth-worm in its appearance, were it not white instead of a red colour. They are very common among dogs, especially young dogs, in whom they are often attended by fits. Occasionally they crawl into the stomach, and there produce a great deal of irritation.

Another, and the most injurious of the intestinal worms, is the 'taenia', or 'tape-worm'. It is many inches in length, almost flat in the greater part of its extent, and its two extremities are nearly or quite equal. Tape-worms associate in groups like the others, but they are not so numerous; they chiefly frequent the small intestines. They are sometimes apt to coil themselves, and form a mechanical obstruction which is fatal to the dog.

The presence of all these worms is readily detected. There is generally a dry, short cough, a staring coat, a hot and fetid breath, a voracious appetite, and a peculiar state of the bowels; alternately constipated to a great degree, or peculiarly loose and griping. In young dogs the emaciated appearance, stinted growth, fetid breath, and frequent fits, are indications not to be mistaken.

At other times, however, the dog is filled with worms with scarcely any indication of their presence. Mr. Blaine very properly remarks that it docs not follow, because no worms are seen to pass away, that there are none: neither when they are not seen does it follow even that none pass; for, if they remain long in the intestines after they are dead, they become digested like other animal matter.

The means of expelling or destroying worms in the intestines of the dog are twofold: the first and apparently the most natural mode of proceeding, is the administration of purgatives, and usually of drastic ones; but there is much danger connected with this; not merely the fæces will be expelled, but a greater or less portion of the mucus that lines the intestinal canal. The consequence of this will be griping and inflammation to a very dangerous extent. Frequent doses of Epsom salts have been given; but not always with success, and frequently with griping. Mercurial medicines have been tried; but they have not always succeeded, and have often produced salivation. One method of expelling the worm has been adopted which has rarely failed, without the slightest mischief--the administration of glass finely powdered. Not a particle of it penetrates through the mucus that lines the bowels, while it destroys every intestinal worm. The powdered glass is made into a ball with lard and ginger.

The following account of the symptoms caused by taenia may be interesting. A dog used to be cheerful, and particularly fond of his master; but gradually his countenance became haggard, his eyes were red, his throat was continually filled with a frothy spume, and he stalked about with an expression of constant inquietude and suffering. These circumstances naturally excited considerable fear with regard to the nature of his disease, and he was shut up in a court, with the intention of his being destroyed. Thus shut up, he furiously threw himself upon every surrounding object, and tore them with his teeth whenever he could seize them. He retired into one of the corners of the court, and there he was continually rubbing his nose, as it were to extract some foreign body; sometimes he bit and tore up the earth, barking and howling violently; his hair stood on end, and his flanks were hollow.

During the whole of his disease he continued to recognise his master. He ran to him at the slightest word. He refused nothing to drink; but he would not eat. He was killed on account of the fear excited among the neighbours.

The veterinary surgeon who attended him suspected that there was some affection of the head, on account of the strange manner in which he had rubbed and beaten it. The superior part of the nose was opened, and two tæniæ; lanceolatæ were found: it was plain enough that they were the cause of all the mischief.

The proprietor of the dog nevertheless believed that it was a case of rabies; he had the caustic applied to his hands, and could not persuade himself that he was safe until he had been at the baths of Bourbonne. [4]

There is a worm inhabiting the stomach of young dogs, the 'Ascaris Marginata', a frequent source of sickness and occasionally of spasmodic colic, by rolling itself into knots. It seems occasionally to take a dislike to its assigned residence, and wanders into the oesophagus, but rarely into the larger intestines. A dog had a severe cough, which could not be subdued by bleeding or physic, or sedative or opiate medicines. He was destroyed, and one of these ascarides was found in the trachea. Others find their way into the nasal cavity; and a dreadful source of irritation they are when they are endeavouring to escape, in order to undergo one of the changes of form to which they are destined, or when they have been forced into the nostril in the act of vomiting.

I once had a dog as a patient, whose case, I confess, I did not understand. He would sneeze and snort, and rub his head and nose along the carpet. I happened to say that the symptoms in some respects resembled those of rabies, and yet, that I could not satisfy myself that the dog was rabid. The mention of rabies was sufficient, and in defiance of my remonstrances the animal was destroyed.

The previous symptoms led me to examine the nasal cavity, and I found two of these ascarides, one concealed in the middle and the other in the upper meatus, through neither of which could any strong current of air be forced, and from which the ascarides could not be dislodged.

Worms may be the cause of sudden death in a dog. The following case, communicated by Professor Dick, illustrates this fact:

I lately had the body of a dog sent to me: his owner sent the following letter by the same conveyance.

"My keeper went out shooting yesterday morning with the dog which I
now send to you. He was quite lively, and apparently well, during the
former part of the day; but towards evening he was seized with violent
vomiting. When he came home he refused to eat, and this morning about
eight o'clock he died. As I have lost all my best dogs rather
suddenly, I will thank you to have him examined, and the contents of
his stomach analyzed; and have the kindness to inform me whether he
has been poisoned, or what was the cause of his death."

On opening the abdomen, the viscera appeared quite healthy: the stomach was removed, and the contents were found to be more decidedly acid than usual. The acids were the muriatic and acetic: the finding of an increased quantity of these is far from being unusual. There was not a trace of arsenical, mercurial, nor any other metallic poison present. Of the vegetable poisons, I can only say there was not the slightest trace of the morbid effects of any of them. The pericardium and the left side of the thorax contained a small quantity of bloody serous fluid, and the heart was full of black blood. The left lung was a little inflamed. The trachea contained some frothy yellow mucous matter, similar to the contents of the stomach. In the larynx was found one of those worms occasionally inhabiting the cavities of the nose, and which had probably escaped from the nose while the dog had been hunting; and, lodging in the larynx, had destroyed the animal by producing spasms of the larynx. The worm was about one inch and a half in length, and had partly penetrated through the rima glottidis. Another worm about the same size was found in the left bronchia, and a still smaller one among the mucus of the trachea: there were also four others in the nose.

Some years ago I found some worms of the filacia species in the right ventricle of the heart of a dog, which had produced sudden death by interrupting the action of the valves.

The following is a curious case of tape-worm, by Mr. Reynold:

On an estate where a great quantity of rabbits are annually destroyed in the month of November, we have observed that several dogs that were previously in good health and condition soon became weak, listless, and excessively emaciated, frequently passing large portions of the tape-worm. This induced us to examine the intestines of several hares and rabbits; and, with, very few exceptions, we found each to contain a perfect tape-worm three to four feet in length. We then caused two of the dogs whose cases appeared the worst to be separated from the others, feeding them on potatoes, &c.; and, in eight or ten days, after voiding several feet of the worms, they were perfectly restored to their former strength and appearance. The worm disease, hitherto so formidable to the spaniel and pointer, may in a great measure be fairly attributed to the custom of giving them the intestines of their game, under the technical appellation of "the paunch." The facts above stated, in explaining the cause of the disease, at the same time suggest the remedy.

'A worm in the urethra of a dog'. M. Séon, veterinary surgeon of the Lancers of the Body Guard, was requested to examine a dog who strained in vain to void his urine, often uttering dreadful cries, and then eagerly licking his penis. M. Séon, after having tried in vain to abate the irritation, endeavoured to pass an elastic bougie. He perceived a conical body half an inch long protruding from the urethra with each effort of the dog to void his urine, and immediately afterwards returning into the urethra. He crushed it with a pair of forceps, and drew it out. It proved to be a worm resembling a strongylus, four and a half inches long. It was living, and moving about. M. Séon could not ascertain its species. The worm being extracted, the urine flowed, and the dog soon recovered. [5]

FISTULA IN THE ANUS.

This is a too frequent consequence of piles. It is often the result of the stagnation of hardened fæces in the rectum, which produces inflammation and ulceration, and frequently leaves a fistulous opening. If we may judge what the quadruped suffers by the sufferings of human beings, it is a sadly painful affair, whether the fistula is external or internal. Whether it may be cured by a mild stimulant daily inserted to the bottom of the abscess, or whether there is a communication with the opening of the rectum which buries itself in the cellular tissues around it, and requires an operation for its cure, it will require the assistance of a skilful surgeon to effect a cure in this case.

[Footnote 1: Tetanus observed on a Dog, by M. Debeaux.--'Pract. Med. Vet.' 1829, p. 543]

[Footnote 2: 'Blaine's Canine Pathology', p. 151.]

[Footnote 3: 'Proceedings of the Veterinary Medical Association', 1839-40]

[Footnote 4: 'Prat. Méd. Vét.' 1824, p. 14.]

[Footnote 5: 'Prat. Méd. Vét.', Fév. 1828.]

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