Diseases of the Respiratory Organs. 17 



more highly contagious. The direct cause is unknown ; it 

 was supposed by the Italians to be due to some stellar influ- 

 ence, hence the term Influenza, signifying influence. It is 

 now generally believed to arise from a peculiar condition of 

 the atmosphere, but in what that condition consists is still 

 a mystery. Dogs are liable to it at any age, and at all 

 periods of the year. Spring and autumn are, however, the 

 seasons in which it is most frequently seen, and this tends 

 to prove that if cold and damp do not actually produce 

 influenza, they may be certainly looked upon as predisposing 

 agents. 



Symptoms. — These vary somewhat in their manifestation. 

 Frequently the disease is ushered in with scarcely any pre- 

 monitory symptoms, beyond extreme lassitude. In some 

 sneezing, redness of the eyes, and flow of tears are the first 

 observed. In others sore throat, loss of appetite, nausea 

 and vomiting, are alone present. Whilst in others, again, 

 cough, expectoration, and muco-purulent discharge from 

 the nostrils almost immediately follow the first signs of 

 lassitude. Whatever form, however, it primarily assumes, 

 it invariably terminates in the one which is diagnostic of 

 influenza, and the symptoms named become more or less 

 associated ; and added to these, we have hurried respiration, 

 increased weak pulse, scanty and turbid urine, faeces dry 

 and slimy, hot skin, dry furred tongue, internal temperature 

 high, and in the latter stages an cedematous condition of 

 the limbs. In severe types that are allowed to run on un- 

 checked,pleurisy and effusion in the chest become complicated 

 with it. 



Treatment. — Bodily warmth, proper ventilation, and dif- 

 fusible stimulants are first indicated. 



, The medicine prescribed in the preceding disease is 

 equally adapted to this ; and where there is extreme debility 

 the tinct. ferri should follow, or if cedematous, the iodide of 

 iron in the same proportions. Linseed-meal poultices, or 

 mustard or ammonia embrocation, may be applied to the 

 throat if swollen or sore, and steaming the head will be 

 c 



