17.9 

 in pregnancy there is no undulation. The belly* 

 however full, has not that tight tense feel that dropsy 

 has. There may also be inequalities distinguishe4 

 ill it, which are the puppies, and, when pregnancy 

 is at all advanced, they may be felt to move. 



In dropsy, the most certain mode of detecting the^ 

 presence of water is by the tpucli. If the right hand 

 is laid on the belly, and with the left hand the other 

 side of the belly is tapped, an undulating motion is 

 felt by the right hand, exactly similar to what would 

 be felt by placing one hand on a bladder of water, and 

 striking it with the other. Some dogs will live a very 

 considerable time with a great quantity of water in 

 them ; others are more speedily carried off. 



The next dropsy is that arising from the accumu- 

 lation of water in the chest, or, as it is termed in 

 human medicine, hydrothorax. It may occur as a 

 chronic affection, that is, as a slow accumulation ; or 

 it may be the effect of an acute disease. In inflamma- 

 tion of the lungs, very frequently about the third day, 

 water begins to be thrown out into the chest rapidly, 

 which in a few hours destroys the animal : if an in- 

 judicious practitioner is called in, he frequently 

 bleeds; the conse^juence of which is, the doti dies un- 

 der the operation geuerally. Opening a principal 

 artery is not more certainly fatal in other instances 

 than the opening a vein in this disease. The chronic 

 cases of dropsy of the chest are, in general, the ef- 

 fect of long continued asthma, whicli very frequently 

 terminates in this manner. Long continued mange 

 will also bring it on. I have always found it incurable. 



Encysted Drops\. — An accumulatioa of wa- 

 ter, or of. a fatty oi geiatiaous matter, m the ovaria 



