206 THE DOG IN DISEASE. 



opened from the back either with bone-forceps or bj 

 these together with a saw. 



The cause of death is always finally by the heart and 

 lungs, so that the problem resolves itself into what has 

 caused the arrest of their functions ; and while in some in- 

 stances, as in the case of violent haemorrhages, this may be 

 easy enough, in others the chain of events is long and 

 complicated, and some of the links almost impossible to 

 find. 



Every practitioner of medicine should aim at being an 

 expert in making and interpreting autopsies ; while every 

 breeder who will secure the assistance of the expert may 

 get much useful help in avoiding future calamities, and 

 aid in the most efiectual way in the advancement of medi- 

 cine. 



RELATIVE PREVALENCE, ETC. 



Reference has already been made to the term " type," 

 or " typical," as applied to breeds of dogs. The same may 

 be used for the characteristics of disease. In studying 

 any disease it is found that the combinations of symptoms 

 are rarely, perhaps never, quite the same in any two ani- 

 mals — a statement which also applies to their intensity, 

 order of appearance, etc., though the latter is often fairly 

 constant. These variations, as we have already tried to 

 make clear, are due to the inborn and acquired differences 

 in the constitutions of animals of the same species, which 

 are inseparable from and constitute indimduality. As 

 there are so many breeds of dogs, these principles apply 

 forcibly. But in reading most works on medicine which 



