304 WOUXDS AXD THEIR TREATMENT 



is concerned, the onh' value being when the normal temperature is pre- 

 sented and the acute symptoms already described begin to abate. 



We sometimes see very peculiar cases — for instance, the author has 

 observed a case of septicaemia with normal temperature the first day 

 accompanied by weakness, depression, loss of appetite, etc. In the next 

 few days the temperature gradually increases; sleepiness, fatigue, and 

 rapid emaciation; the symptoms increase in intensity; the pulse becomes 

 weak, rapid, and much slower, until it falls below the normal rate, and 

 finally ends in the death of the animal. In many cases diarrhoea is 

 present, and in rare cases convulsions. 



Therapeutics. — Antiseptic solutions must be used vigorously and 

 the wound irrigated frequently. If there is any dead tissue that is hard 

 to loosen, the thermo-cautery should be used to render it aseptic. The 

 animal must be stimulated by means of ether, alcohol, and camphor. 

 The writer finds subcutaneous injections (4.0 to 6.0 doses) of spirit of 

 camphor or camphorated ether, 1 to 10, of great value in such cases. 

 This drug he is inclined to call a specific agent in septicaemia. It must 

 be injected every two or three hours under the skin until the alarming 

 symptoms have disappeared. Slight muscular contractions which 

 sometimes follow the use of camphor are not to be regarded as anything 

 especially serious. 



3. Purulent Fever and Pyaemia. — When a suppurating wound 

 becomes very much inflamed and infects the surrounding tissues, it is 

 generally followed by the entrance into the blood of some microorganisms. 

 If the symptoms of fever are slight, the patients may recover, wdth only 

 a chill and a slight increase of temperature. If the fever is very serious 

 and the temperature rises high, it is called pyaemia. In this disease you 

 will find that the majority of cases are follow^ed by metastatic suppura- 

 tion in various organs of the body. This is due to the fact that the throm- 

 bus undergoes purulent destruction in the blood vessels, breaks down, 

 and the infectious matter is carried into the circulation, and from there 

 it fintls its way to different organs or locations in the liody. The symp- 

 toms of pyaemia in the dog are not very easily distinguished from those 

 of septicaemia, and it is very hard in the majority of cases to make a 

 positive diagnosis. Very frequently we see symptoms of septicaemia 

 and pyaemia combined, forming what is known as septico-pyaemia. In 

 this case the animal dies before any deposit of the suppurating poison 

 has produced abscesses. In pyaemia the symptoms are marked by chills 

 in the early stages, and by intermittent fever. The appetite is often 

 good, and, as a rule, rarely cntii'ely absent, as in septicaemia. Later the 

 disease presents much more serious symptoms: the fever loses its inter- 

 mittent character, the temperature remaining high; the appetite disap- 

 pears; fatigue and weakness may occur; the patients become rapidly 



