ACUTE BRONCHITIS. 33 



STETHOSCOPE gives a rattling sound, as of soap bubbles, with a great deal of 

 wheezing. 



PERCUSSION gives no result different from a state of health. 



TERMINATES in resolution ; or, if fatal, in an accumulation of mucus, and 

 consequent suffocation. Until very near suffocation the dog will almost always lie 

 down ; whereas the contrary is the case in pneumonia. 



The TREATMENT will a good deal depend upon which of the above three con- 

 ditions is present, though not to such an extent as to be of very great consequence. 

 In pleurisy and pneumonia, bleeding will almost always be required in the early 

 stage, but not in bronchitis, which seldom is benefited by loss of blood. Blisters, 

 again, relieve pneumonia and bronchitis, but are actually prejudicial in pleurisy, 

 where the close relation between the vessels of the pleura lining the chest, and the 

 skin covering it, often causes the irritation of the latter to extend to the former, 

 and thus increase the mischief it was intended to relieve. With regard to internal 

 medicines, they are, fortunately, much the same in all three. Calomel and opium, 

 with or without digitalis and tartar emetic, will generally be useful ; and in 

 bronchitis, rhubarb, opium, and ipecacuanha, as follows : 



Calomel and opium in powder, of each | to 1 grain ; tartar emetic, f to f grain ; 

 digitalis, | grain. 



Confection enough to form a pill, to be given three times a day. Or, 



Rhubarb powder, 2 grains ; ipecacuanha powder, ^ to 1 grain ; extract of 

 opium, | to 1 grain ; compound tincture of benzoin, 2 drops. 



Mix, and form a pill, to be given three times a day. 



When these remedies have had the desired effect of relieving the inflammation, 

 as evidenced by the breathing and pulse becoming slower, and by the dog being 

 able to lie down, if the pneumonia has been present, some one of the cough 

 mixtures or pills given in the chapter on drugs, under the head of Expectorants 

 will be found beneficial ; but it is generally difficult to say which of them will best 

 suit any particular case. A trial may be made of one for two or three days, and if 

 that fails, another should be substituted for it. The diet should be very low at 

 first, and afterwards only a milk and farinaceous one, with vegetables, should be 

 allowed for some weeks. When dropsy of the chest supervenes upon pleurisy, 

 tapping has occasionally been had recourse to ; but for sporting dogs it is wholly 

 useless, because the animal never recovers sufficient bodily powers to be of real 

 service in the field ; and it is only in pets whose lives are valued by their masters 

 or mistresses that this operation should ever be had recourse to. 



CHRONIC BRONCHITIS, WITH SPASM, usually known as spasmodic asthma, is 

 very common among ladies' pets, who become overfed in consequence of the 

 kindness of their mistresses, and their blood vessels gorged with foul blood, when 

 spasm comes on with congestion of the mucous membrane of the large air-tubes, 

 causing that frightful panting for breath which is so distressing in the human 

 subject, and which even in the dog is by no means calculated to afford pleasure to 

 the spectator. A fat, pursy, and asthmatic old dog is a miserable object of pity, 

 and had far better be destroyed than suffered to live on in misery. The nose 



