98 THE MANAGEMENT AND DISEASES OF THE DOG. 



made of the diseiass, it appears to be sufficiently proved that 

 it is not essentially an alteration of the. liver ; on the contrary, 

 in the majority of cases this organ is perfectly healthy, and 

 even less modified in its color than many of the other tissues. 

 It is sometimes found, slightly congested and eqchymosed, but 

 this is more rare, and always in a.lesser degree than the lungs, 

 kidneys, and lymphatiq glands. When it exists it is only a 

 secondary phenomenon, indicating a general alteration in the 

 organism, which is marked, by a teridency to the production of 

 capillary haemorrhage in different parts, and by no special le- 

 sion. The general condition of the animals, the increase in 

 the respiration and circulation, as vvqll as the elevation of tem- 

 perature before the appearance of the yellow color externally, 

 indicate, as a primary and fundamental phenomenon, a,n 

 acutely inflamed condition of some tissue. And, later, the 

 prostration, insensibility, and low temperature prove the exist- 

 ence of intoxication by a poison ; this poison evidently re- 

 sults from the accumulation of bile — or, at least, of, some of 

 its constituents — -in the blood. So that icterus, at first of an 

 inflammatory nature, is. soon complicated by the incessant 

 accumulation of bile in the blood, from the moment that its 

 characteristic symptom — yellowness of the tissues — is mani- 

 fested. 



"Trasbot's observations, go, to, demonstrate that tlie 

 mucous membrane of the duodenum is always- violently iijT 

 flamed, and that this inflammation is also somewhat frequently 

 noticed in the stomach, and sometimes to a certain extent, in 

 the small intestines. Exceptionally, circumscribed inflampia; 

 tory centres are found in the lungs and kidneys, around 

 haemorrhagic points of recent date. But the inflammation is 

 never absent in the duodenum, so that duodenitis should be 

 considered as the primary condition and sine qua non in the 

 development of icterus. This localization, however, is not 

 absolute, as often there is simultaneously a very intense 

 gastritis, or an enteritis which may extend to the cascum. It 

 therefore follows that icterus is primarily and essentially a 



