134 DOGS: THEIR MANAGEMENT. 



monia during the distemper ; but authors speak of the 

 pulmonary form of the disorder as having formerly been 

 a common cause of death. I know it only as a mild varia- 

 tion of the ordinary symptoms. It has not in any case 

 under my observation proved fatal, but has readily yielded 

 to gentle measures, aided by attention to simple diet. 



The liver is generally involved. After the termina- 

 tion of a fatal case, this gland is found either soft or more 

 brittle than it ought to be, else it is discovered much 

 enlarged. I never saw it of less than its natural size. 

 Generally it is discolored, mostly of a pale tint ; which 

 sometimes exists all over the organ, though the pendu- 

 lous edges of the lobes are very generally seen of the 

 bright red, suggestive of inflammation. The gall-blad- 

 der is always distended with a thin dark-green fluid or 

 impure bile ; and a large quantity of the same secretion, 

 but of greater consistency, is distributed over the lining 

 membrane of the anterior intestines. The liver obvious- 

 ly is the cause of the yellow distemper, which is no more 

 than jaundice added to the original and pre-existing dis- 

 ease. Yellow distemper is by writers treated of as a 

 distinct disorder, but I have not yet met with it in that 

 form. When it has come under my notice, it has been 

 no more than one of the many complications which the 

 symptoms are liable to assume. The dog has been ill 

 before his skin became discolored ; but the eyes not ex- 

 hibiting that ordinary discharge which denotes the true 

 character of the affection under which he labored, the 

 distemper was not detected. 



