SYMPTOMS OF DISEASE. 17 
slight elevation, and subsequently a gradual rise. Did the fevers from which 
the canine race suffers assume a regular type, with nearly uniform rise and fall 
of the temperature morning and evening, complications might be easily detected, 
evidence of the same appearing in any marked irregularities exhibited by the 
thermometer. As it is, however, the temperature is less instructive; and only 
when the thermometer makes sudden and quite long jumps upwards need there 
be apprehension, from the temperature alone, that there has been an extension 
of the existing disease, or that some other disorder has started up, to run with it, 
and make the case more serious. During the course of inflammatory affections, 
constipation usually sends up the temperature; and great excitement and a 
variety of other influences may have the same effect; while if pus forms in any 
considerable quantity, there is sure to be a sudden rise of several degrees. 
Chills and rigors, manifested by shivering and trembling, are nervous phe- 
nomena; and notwithstanding the victims feel cold, the temperature is rising, 
and there is fever. Perspiration, the office of which is, principally, to regulate 
the temperature of the body, is but rarely perceptible in dogs, unless very pro- 
fuse, when, as a rule, it is caused by extreme weakness. A very high tempera- 
ture while the skin is moist is much more alarming than the same degree of heat 
with a dry surface. 
The dog vomits easily, and he would seem to often do so even without good 
reason ; but doubtless by that means he saves himself many attacks of sickness, 
and keeps his stomach and associate organs in much better condition than would 
be possible without it. Vomiting, therefore, while it might mean much, generally 
means but little, and alone cannot be rightly considered a symptom of any 
decided significance unless it has been repeated several times within a short 
period, when, of course, it is likely serious, and highly suggestive of poisoning. 
The fault of attaching undue importance to the appetite in both man and 
dogs is almost universal. Let it be a little less hearty than usual, or a bit capri- 
cious, and straightway bitter tonics are administered, with the purpose of 
stimulating and correcting it. Whereas, in ninety-nine cases out of every hun- 
dred, all the man or dog requires is to be let severely alone for a time, and until 
his system has righted itself. When that goes wrong, one of the first moves of 
nature toward remedying the fault is to take away the appetite more or less 
completely; for not only is food not required then in the usual quantities, if 
at all, but harm is sure to result unless it be properly restricted or entirely 
withheld. She decrees a fast for a time; at the expiration of which, if not in- 
terfered with, she signifies that all is well by renewing the appetite. To drug for 
that alone cannot be required in any case if it be otherwise rightly managed, 
and certainly not in acute or recent attacks. If a dog taken ill suddenly has 
seemed to have lost his appetite, he should be merely tempted with some bland 
food, as milk, or possibly a little scraped raw beef, to determine positively 
whether the fast is designed to be complete or only partial; and the same 
