CHKONIC GENERAL DROPSY FROM DISEASED KIDNEYS. 95 



break his leg from a twist or blow without imputation upon his 

 blood or bone ; but if a fracture takes place by the mere power of 

 the muscles, as in starting from the slips, depend upon it, such a 

 case, except in old age, is from disease, and that disease is rickets. 



CHRONIC GENERAL DROPSY FROM DISEASED KIDNEYS. 



This intractable disease is technically called anasarca, and is an 

 oozing out of the serum of the blood into the loose cellular 

 membrane of the body and limbs ; it is known by the swelling 

 6 pitting ' on pressure by the finger that is to say, the finger leaves 

 a pit in the flesh just as it would in dough, and the depression is 

 not filled for a minute or two whereas fat leaves no such pit, but 

 is elastic enough to return to its natural surface as soon as the 

 pressure is removed. It is essentially a disease of old dogs, though 

 iu some rare cases I have seen it come on after distemper. In the 

 healthy condition of the body the kidneys remove the watery or 

 serous part of the blood as fast as is necessary ; but when they 

 become diseased in consequence of want of exercise, forcing diet, or 

 other causes, they no longer do their duty, and then the minute 

 vessels often give way, and the serum oozes out into the cellular 

 membrane. One of the most frequent causes of the disease is the 

 injurious and dishonest practice adopted by the owners of stallion 

 dogs, of giving over-stimulating food to restore their exhausted 



