Principles op veterinary surgery 59 



fever. Sometimes, especially when invasion was rapid, this 

 period is very short and amounts to nothing more than a sud- 

 den drop of the temperature. More frequently, the decline 

 is gradual during two or three days. When it reaches a point 

 near to the normal there is always a marked improvement 

 in the patient's general condition. The spirits return, the 

 eyes brighten, the mucous membranes become pink, the 

 pulse slow, and the appetite improves. Often the latter be- 

 comes ravenous. The termination of fevers by crises is sel- 

 dom ever seen in animals, or at least the crisis passes unob- 

 served. When the period of defervescence is unusually pro- 

 longed there is reason to suspect grave internal abnormali- 

 ties that the organism has failed to throw off. In septic infec- 

 tions, it points to secondary abscess. In pleurisy it indicates 

 hydrothorax. In pneumonia, influenza, bronchitis, strangles, 

 etc., it indicates gangrene, abscess, purpura haemorrhagica, 

 etc. 



TREATMENT. — The treatment of fever always depends 

 upon its cause. From the very earliest days the lowering 

 of the temperature of sick patients was considered the physi- 

 cian's most patent mission. The modern therapist has, how- 

 ever, upset the old tradition and now only makes special ef- 

 fort to combat fever that is extremely high and which, as a 

 consequence of its high mark, threatens early exhaustion of 

 the vital forces. In domestic animals temperatures of io6°, 

 107° or 107.5° Fahr. demand somewhat special attention, 

 especially when this high degree is maintained for some 

 hours. But even here, the lowering of the temperature must 

 not be purchased at the expense of the patient's strength. In 

 the surgical fevers the temperature is combated chiefly by 

 destroying the infective hot-beds. The' infected wound. is 

 opened, drained, curetted, irrigated, etc., often with the result 

 of causing an immediate fall of the temperature, and prompt 

 return of the general health. When such efforts fail or for 



