222 DOGS : THEIR MANAGEMENT. 



the biliary gland of these animals deranged ; sometimes 

 inflamed — sometimes in an opposite condition — often en- 

 larged — seldom diminished — rarely of uniform color — 

 occasionally tuberculated — and not unfrequently as fat 

 with disease as those are which have obtained for Stras- 

 burg geese a morbid celebrity. 



It is, however, somewhat strange that, notwithstanding 

 the almost universality of liver disease among petted 

 dogs, the symptoms which denote its existence are in 

 these creatures so obscure and undefined as rarely to be 

 recognised. Very few dogs have healthy livers, and yet 

 seldom is the disordered condition of this important gland 

 suspected. Various are the causes which different authors, 

 English and foreign, have asserted produced this effect. 

 I shall only allude to such as I can on my own experi- 

 ence corroborate, and here I shall have but little to refer 

 to. Over-feeding and excessive indulgence are the sources 

 to which I have always traced it. In the half-starved or 

 well-worked dog I have seen the liver involved ; but have 

 never beheld it in such a state as led me to conclude it 

 was the principal or original seat of the affection which 

 ended in death. On the other hand, in fatted and petted 

 animals, I have seen the gland in a condition that war- 

 ranted no doubt as to what part the fatal attack had 

 commenced in. 



When death has been the consequence of hepatic 

 disorder, the symptoms have in every instance been 

 chronic. I am not aware that I have been called upon 

 to treat a case of an acute description, excepting as a 



