62 DISEASES OF THE GKEYHOUND. 



extremely sensitive to cold, or to any other disagreeable sensation, 

 as scolding, flogging, &c. The water is scanty arid high-coloured, 

 with thirst ; and the motions either very costive or loose, and if 

 the latter, often of a pitchy colour. The strength and flesh fail 

 in a remarkably rapid manner, so that the dog is often unable 

 to stand at the end of a few days or a week ; the appetite is by 

 that time entirely lost, and frequently the food which is given 

 by force is returned, or speedily passes the bowels unchanged. 

 The respiration generally becomes quicker than natural, though 

 this symptom is not so universal as the others I have enumerated. 

 In fact, all the processes of respiration, circulation, digestion, and 

 secretion are disturbed in a remarkable manner ; and in this, I 

 believe, is the essence of the disease ; and the healthy resump- 

 tion of these functions is always attended by convalescence. The 

 blood is no longer properly depurated by the agency of the lungs, 

 liver, and kidneys, nor renewed by healthy materials, the result of 

 good digestion ; the circulation, consequently, is imperfectly carried 

 on, and the brain is supplied with impure blood, which is full of 

 matters acting as a poison to it, and, as a consequence, death often 

 takes place at an early stage from a fit. Whatever secretions are 

 effected are vitiated in quality, and altered in quantity, sometimes 

 being almost stopped, occasioning the dry, husky cough, and 

 constipation of the early stage; and sometimes in excess, when 

 you have the profuse offensive discharge from the nose and bronchi, 

 or the pitchy motions from the intestines which accompany the 

 progress of the disease. 



Such are the general and characteristic symptoms of distemper. 



