DISEASES OF THE RESPIRATORY ORGANS. IS 



more highly contagious. The direct cause is unknown ; it was 

 supposed by the ItaUans to be due to some stellar influence, 

 hence the term Influenza, signifying influence. It is now 

 generally believed to arise from a peculiar condition of the 

 atmosphere, but in what that condition consists is still a 

 mystery. Dogs are liable to it at any age, and at all periods 

 of the year. Spring and autumn are, however, the seasons in 

 which it is most frequently seen, and this tends to prove that 

 if cold and damp do not actually produce influenza, they may 

 be certainly looked upon as predisposing agents. 



Symptoms^ — These vary somewhat in their manifestation. 

 Frequently the disease is ushered in with scarcely any pre- 

 monitory symptoms, beyond extreme lassitude. In some 

 sneezing, redness of the eyes, and flow of tears, are the first 

 observed. In others sore throat, loss of appetite, nausea and 

 vomiting, are alone present. Whilst in others, again, cough, 

 expectoration, and muco-purulent discharge from the nostrils 

 almost immediately follow the first signs of lassitude. What- 

 ever form, however, it primarily assumes, it invariably ter- 

 minates in the one which is diagnostic of influenza, and the 

 symptoms named become more or less associated ; and added 

 to these, we have hurried respiration, increased weak pulse, 

 scanty and turbid urine, faeces dry and slimy, hot skin, dry 

 furred tongue, internal temperature high, and in the latter 

 stages an oedematous condition of the limbs. In severe types 

 that are allowed to run on unchecked, pleurisy and effusion 

 in the chest become complicated with it. 



Treatment. — Bodily warmth, proper ventilation, and dif- 

 fusible stimulants are first indicated. 



The medicine prescribed in the preceding disease, is 

 equally adapted to this ; and where there is extreme debility 

 the tinct. ferri should follow, or if oedematous, the iodide of 

 iron in the same proportions. Linseed-meal poultices, or 

 mustard or ammonia embrocation, may be applied to the 

 throat if swollen or sore, and steaming the head will be at- 

 tended with benefit. Purgatives should on no account be re- 



