200 THE DOG IK DISEASE. 



and love of approbation. Who has not been touched by 

 the friendly wag of the dog's tail when not far from the 

 end of all things to him ? "Who has not seen the effort to 

 eat, simply to please the one whose slightest wish it has 

 been the very highest delight of his life to meet ? 



DISINFECTION. 



Disinfection as a preventive of disease must play a 

 great part in the medicine of the present and the future. 

 Since it is now known that very many of the most fatal 

 diseases are of microbic (parasitic) origin, and that these 

 germs can, in many cases, live outside of the body, and so 

 perpetuate disease in animals exposed to them, their de- 

 struction by suitable agents is plainly indicated. Such 

 destruction of the germs themselves and the poisonous 

 products they create is disinfection. 



A disinfectant may or may not be a deodorizer, and 

 in practice it is very important that a strong smell of car- 

 bolic acid, chlorinated lime, etc., shall not of itself satisfy 

 the mind. 



Disinfection of kennels, whether there has been con- 

 tagious disease or not, at regular periods, is a precaution 

 the proprietor will never regret. 



It is to be remembered that the germs of disease are 

 usually propagated by spores, or microscopic vegetable 

 cells, which have great vitality i. e., can resist conditions 

 fatal to most forms of life about us. Thus they bear, 

 many of them, prolonged drying, great extremes of tem- 

 perature, etc. Such facts probably explain the amazing 

 tenacity that such a disease as distemper has in maintain- 

 ing itself in a kennel in which it has once broken out. 



