LEUK.^MIA 315 



the proportion of blood corpuscles in the blood is one white l)lood cor- 

 puscle to three or four hundred of the red blood corpuscles, but in 

 leukiemia the proi)0]'tion is frequently one white to fifty red nnd in 

 extreme cases one to five. In making a count of the white l)lood cor- 

 puscles there is one point that must not be forgotten, and that is that 

 there is a normal physiological increase of the white blood corpuscles 

 when the animal has had a great loss of blood, immediately after the 

 digestion of a heavy meal, where there is chronic inflammation and 

 suppuration and in the bitch during pregnancy; hence a marked increase 

 in the number of white blood corpuscles, unless there are other symptoms 

 that confirm it, does not mean the animal has leukaemia. The altera- 

 tion in the lymphatic glands is easily detected in those glands that are 

 near the surface of the body. The lymphatic ganglions are found to l)e 

 enlarged, round, and sometimes irregular and are generally painless on 

 pressure. In some cases we may find solitary enlarged lymphatics in 

 different parts of the body. Frequently the region of the enlarged 

 lymphatics is oedematous. It is only when the spleen has reached a 

 considerable size that it can be outlined by palpation of the abdomen. 

 Another symptom of leukaemia is the marked increase in the pulse. 

 There is redness of the mucous meml^ranes oi the mouth, coated tongue, 

 disordered stomach, irregular attacks of diarrhoea, dropsical swellings, 

 ascites or chyle stasis, as a result of the acute hypertrophy of the 

 abdominal lymphatic glands, and we may occasionally see intestinal 

 haemorrhage. 



The course of this disease is invariably chronic with a gradual 

 increase of the severity of the symptoms, the condition of the animal 

 continually getting worse until finally the animal dies of exhaustion. 



Therapeutics. — The treatment of leukaemia is practically the same 

 as that of anaemia. Give very nutritious food and arsenic, iron or 

 quinine. The inhalation of oxygen as well as the transfusion of 

 blood recommended in the treatment of this disease in man has been 

 tried in the dog and found unsatisfactory. The administration of certain 

 organic therapeutical preparations, such as spleen (lienaden) tablets, 

 lymphatic gland tablets, or bone-marrow tablets, has also been found 

 to be valueless. 



I^. Ferri et quininse citratis, 0.2 



Saccharum, O.G 



M. F. pulv. divid charta, No. xx. 



Sig. — One jjowder three times daily. 



Pseud oleukaemia. Lymphadenia, Hodgkin's Disease. — This disease 

 appears more frequently in the dog than leukaemia. It is due to a 

 hyperplasia of the blood-forming centres, particularly the lymphatic 



