24 



OENEBAL EXAMINATION. 



The course and severity of a fever are regulated according to- 

 the amount and character of the fever-producing substances (I'yro- 

 genes) which have penetrated into the blood-circulation. In some- 

 cases we may have a rapid increase in the temperature (fever- 

 paroxysm); this is often observed in the early stages of distemper. 

 In other cases when the temperature changes very slightly it is 

 called a constant fever, and if it does not change more than one 

 degree (Celsius) it is known as a remittent fever; but when it is 

 found that it varies greatly, vacillating between a very low nor- 

 mal and very high subnormal temperature, it is called an inter- 

 mittent fever. 



Fio. 2. 



Fever chart, showing rise and fall of temperature. 



A constant and prolonged high temperature is very rarely seei» 

 in the dog. The temperature, as a rule, in the early stages of all 

 acute diseases rises very quickly, but it generally falls slowly as 

 the disease advances, notwithstanding the complications, and may 

 reach a normal or frequently a subnormal condition. In cases of 

 septicaemia, which is rather a common disease in the dog, we may 

 see an abrupt lowering of the temperature below the normal and 



