330 The Management and Diseases of the Dog. 
halation goes on as usual, but the fluid exhaled is not taken 
back again into the circulating vessels with sufficient facility. 
In one case the circulation is disturbed and tumultuous ; 
in the other, it remains tranquil. 
“Although all dropsical transudations probably take 
place through the walls of the capillary vessels, there would 
seem to be, in the more acute forms of dropsy, an increased 
flow of blood in the arterial channels; while in the com- 
pletely chronic forms there is a defect of absorption by the 
veins. Active dropsies are sometimes spoken of as be- 
longing to the left side of the heart, passive dropsies to the 
right. 
‘What connects all these forms of dropsy is a preter- 
natural fulness in some part, or the whole of the hydraulic 
machine. And this seems to be the grand key to the 
entire pathology, as well as to the remedial management, 
of the disease.” 
Symptoms.—The first symptom generally observed is an 
enlargement of the abdomen, but as this may arise from 
causes other than ascites—to wit, pregnancy, tumours 
obesity, or ovarian dropsy—it is necessary to obtain, by 
examination more confirmatory evidence. The above- 
mentioned writer remarks : 
“In ascites the enlargement is uniform and symmetrical, 
in respect of the two sides of the body. When the patient 
lies on her back the flanks bulge outwards, or sway ovet 
from the weight and lateral pressure of the augmenting 
fluid. This increased breadth of the trunk is not observ- 
able in the case of an ovarian tumour; nor, I may add, in 
pregnancy.” 
Blaine says: “ Dropsy of the belly may be distinguished 
from fat, by the particular tumour that the belly forms, 
which, in dropsy, hangs down, while the backbone sticks 
up, and the hips appear prominent through the skin ; the 
hair stares also, and the coat is peculiarly harsh. It may 
be distinguished from being in pup by the teats, which 
