DOGS : THEIR MANAGEMENT. 213 



full of water, or rather serum, and by the pressure 

 of the fluid the organs of respiration are compressed. 

 It is seldom that both sides are gorged to an equal de- 

 gree ; but one cavity may be quite full while the other 

 is only partially so. One lung, therefore, in part remains 

 to perform the function on which the continuance of life 

 depends ; and if, by any movement, the weight of fluid 

 is brought to bear upon the little left to continue respi- 

 ration, the animal is literally asphyxiated. It drops, in 

 fact, strangled, or more correctly, suffocated ; and as the 

 vital energy is strong or weak, so may the dog more or 

 less frequently recover for a time. In the end, however, 

 the tax upon the strength exhausts the power, and the 

 accumulation of the fluid diminishes the source by which 

 the life was sustained. After death, I have taken from 

 the body of a full-sized Newfoundland one lung, which 

 lay with ease upon my extended hand ; while the two 

 held together afforded a surface sufficient to support the 

 other. The condensation was so great that the part was 

 literally consolidated, and the fluid which exuded on cut- 

 ting into the substance was small in quantity. The 

 blood-vessels were, with the air-cells, compressed, and 

 while the arterialization of the blood was imperfect, the 

 circulation was also impeded. 



The causes usually assigned to account for inflammation 

 of the lungs will not, in the dog, explain its origin. I have 

 usually met it where the animal had not been exposed to 

 wet or cold ; where it had not undergone excessive exer- 

 tion, or been subjected to violence. Extraordinary care 



