DIABETES MELLITUS. 395 
a loss of spirits and slight dullness, but in the largest proportion of cases it is 
irritability and moroseness, characterized by lack of playfulness, and an un- 
natural disposition to snarl and snap when disturbed. 
The appetite is good, and eventually becomes voracious ; but notwithstand- 
ing this, there is a steady loss in flesh, and in time great emaciation. There is 
usually increased thirst ; yet the urine passed may be but little above the ordi- 
nary amount. An irritability of the bladder, especially at the neck of the 
same, which causes more frequent desire to void the urine, is also present in 
most cases. 
As the disease progresses the mouth is continually parched; the breath 
assumes a sweetish, mawkish odor; the skin is dry, and eruptions occur on 
it; there is obstinate constipation, sometimes alternating with diarrhcea; the 
victim grows more and more dull and listless; and finally death may come 
during a convulsion or unusual exertion; but generally the vital powers fail 
slowly, and the last stage is characterized by progressive exhaustion. 
In some instances blindness is developed in the course of this disease, in 
consequence of cataract forming. In some others the hair falls out; while 
in a certain proportion of cases there is severe chronic bronchitis, or even con- 
sumption of the lungs. Ulcerations of the cornea, and large running sores 
on the body or legs are occasional results. 
While many victims finally succumb to diabetes itself, not a few are de- 
stroyed by acute diseases that occur as complications; and of these the most 
common is pneumonia. 
Diabetes may be of mild character at first, and for many weeks the general 
health suffer but little, but the rule is, once it is fixed it is not long before it 
has assumed a grave form. 
The positive sign of this disease is the appearance of sugar in considerable 
quantity in the urine. And the test for that can be applied by any well in- 
formed druggist. 
On examination, after diabetes has become well established, the urine is 
found to be of high specific gravity, and to contain scarcely less than 10 per 
cent of sugar, and often a greater proportion. 
It is well to add here that sugar seldom appears in the urine of dogs except 
in cases of diabetes. It has been found, however, in dogs that have been for 
a time fed on a diet of pure sugar. It has also been observed in dams that 
were nursing, after the pups had been separated from them for a short time, 
and the milk allowed to accumulate until the breasts were distended. 
The outlook in diabetes is always serious, and especially in thin subjects. 
The fact is of interest that the only condition in which obesity can rightly be 
considered fortunate is diabetes, for obese animals offer far greater resistance 
to the progress of this disease than the lean and thin. 
The essential treatment in man is to withhold sugar producing foods, as 
