154 DROPSY. 



also, of long- standing and wholly neglected, very frequently 

 degenerates into dropsy. The accumulation of water is some- 

 times slow, at others very rapid ; and the symptoms that 

 precede the attack are, of course, as various as the causes 

 that produce it. In some cases the forerunner is a harsh 

 cough ; in other instances nothing is observed but a ravenous 

 appetite * ; and the dog, although he may eat an additional 

 quantity, yet he will waste in flesh. Gradually, however, his 

 belly begins to swell, and grows round, hard, and shining. 

 The breathing becomes quick and laborious, and he lies down 

 with difficulty; he drinks much: and, though in the early 

 stages he may eat heartily, yet, as the disease advances, his 

 appetite fails, and, sooner or later, he becomes suffocated 

 from the impediment to the free action of the lungs. 



Dropsy of the belly may be distinguished from fat, by the 

 particular tumour that the belly forms, which, in dropsy, 

 hangs pendulous, while, at the same time, the back bone 

 sticks up, and the hips appear prominent through the skin : 

 the hair stares also, and the feel of the coat is peculiarly 

 harsh. It may be distinguished from pregnancy, or being 

 in pup, by the teats, which always enlarge as the belly en- 

 larges in pregnancy. The impregnated belly^ however full, 

 has not that tight tense feel nor shining appearance observed 

 in dropsy. There may be also foetal inequalities distinguished 

 in it, and, when pregnancy is at all advanced, the young may 

 be felt to move. The most unequivocal mode, however, of 

 detecting the presence of water is by the touch. If the right 

 hand is laid on one side of the belly, and with the left hand 

 the other side is at the same time tapped, an undulating mo- 

 tion will be perceived, exactly similar to what would be felt 

 by placing one hand on a bladder of water, and striking it 

 with the other. 



* In these cases it is more than probable that the mesenteric glands 

 have taken on disease : when dropsy is the consequence of diseased liver, 

 the appetite is not usually so ravenous. 



