INFLAMMATION OF THE INTESTINES. 35 



cold and wet, one or two days after which the dog is shivering and feverish, with a 

 small, hard, and wiry pulse, and a dry nose ; there is generally obstinate costiveness, 

 and when the bowels are moved, the motions are white or slate-coloured and 

 entirely devoid of bile. If these symptoms are not soon alleviated, the inflamma- 

 tion goes on to destroy the substance of the liver, and the dog dies rapidly from 

 constitutional disturbance, arising chiefly from the want of depurating power of 

 the liver. To remove the inflammation, bleeding is sometimes necessary in the 

 early stage, but as it reduces the strength greatly, and as this is required to be kept 

 up during convalescence, it is always attended with danger. Calomel, with or 

 without opium, is the only medicine to be relied on in extreme cases, but when 

 there is time enough, podophyllin may be substituted for it. If there is no 

 diarrhoea produced by these drugs, opium may be omitted, but it must be added to 

 counteract that effect in sufficient doses. If the bowels are confined, a dose of 

 rhubarb and castor-oil may be given, mixing 10 grains of rhubarb with a tablespoon- 

 ful of oil and a teaspoonful of syrup of poppies for a full-sized dog, and less, in pro- 

 portion, for a smaller one. Sometimes a blister must be applied to the side when 

 the inflammation runs very high ; and, in all cases, the mercury must be continued 

 until the motions acquire a natural colour, when the stomachic No. 2 may be given 

 and the mercury discontinued. Chronic hepatitis is a very different disease, and is 

 more frequently the result of bad general management than of cold. Want of 

 exercise is the usual cause, which has given the liver the work of the lungs. The 

 symptoms of chronic hepatitis are multiform, and no one can be depended upon 

 except the absence of bile in the faeces, which is an invariable sign, for no gland in 

 a state of chronic inflammation will be able to secrete good bile. 



The TREATMENT is to be conducted by rubbing into the region of the liver on 

 both sides the ointment of biniodide of mercury, together with castor oil and 

 rhubarb internally, in sufficient doses to keep the bowels gently moved. If the 

 mercurial ointment does not soon cause the bile to flow, it may be assisted by small 

 doses of blue pill or Plummer's pill, added to the rhubarb and oil, and the stomachic 

 draught, No. 2, should be regularly administered in addition. If these means are 

 perseveringly continued, and the dog is regularly but gently exercised, with plain 

 farinaceous food, mixed with weak broth, the disease, unless very inveterate, will 

 generally subside, and if a free flow of bile is obtained little doubt need be felt of 

 the ultimate recovery. 



INFLAMMATION OF THE INTESTINES 



May be said to be divided into four varieties, though one of them is more of a 

 spasmodic than of an inflammatory nature ; these are first, peritoneal inflammation ; 

 secondly, colic, or inflammation and spasm of the muscular coat ; thirdly, diarrhosa, 

 or acute inflammation of the mucous coat ; and, fourthly, constipation, from chronic 

 inflammation of the same membrane. 



1. PERITONITIS and ENTERITIS are merely different parts of the same mem- 

 brane inflamed ; the former comprehending the peritoneum lining the abdominal 



