64 DISEASES OF THE GREYHOUND. 



2nd. OF THE LIVER, STOMACH, AND BOWELS. The liver, being 

 next in importance to the lungs as a purifier of the blood, is also 

 next in frequency of attack in distemper. Indeed, it is almost 

 always more or less disturbed in its functions ; and, so long as the 

 motions continue of a good colour and consistence, you may rest 

 contented that the attack will be a mild one. Usually, however, 

 the flow of good bile is suspended, and a black pitchy fluid 

 is poured out, which irritates the bowels and causes diarrhoea. 

 The stomach is generally so upset as to reject food as soon as 

 swallowed, or, if it is retained, the bowels pass it on without 

 dissolving it, or extracting any nourishment from it. There is 

 very commonly a discharge of blood, which may be looked upon as 

 a most unfavourable symptom, and is almost always the result of 

 ulceration of the mucous membrane of the colon or csecum. JAUN- 

 DICE, or ' the yellows,' as it is called, is a frequent complication of 

 distemper, and it is a symptom of the attack chiefly falling upon 

 the liver ; it is usually fatal. It arises either from the liver ceas- 

 ing to secrete bile at all, in consequence of congestion, or from 

 its bile, after secretion, being pent up by mechanical obstruction. 



3rd. THE KIDNEYS. These organs, it may be recollected, purify 

 the blood from those worn-out materials of the body which are 

 saline or soluble in water. It is not to be expected, therefore, 

 that they should participate in the disease to the same extent as 

 the lungs and liver, because, as the distempered dog is not inclined 

 to take exercise or food, the muscular fibres are not worn out to 

 so great a degree as in health ; they are therefore affected like all 

 other secreting organs, but not to any marked extent. 



