GENERAL DISEASES. 



3^3 



Among the predisposing causes may be named insuffi- 

 cient and improper food, impure air, exposure to wet and 

 cold. 



Symptoms. — Animals, when so affected, are usually un- 

 thrifty and delicate ; the coat is dry and harsh, the abdomen 

 full and pendulous ; the eyes are watery, the conjuctiva 

 injected, and frequently mucus is deposited in the corner ; 

 the lymphatic glands are large and easily felt ; very often 

 the skull (especially the front portion) is unusually large. 

 This latter is more particularly noticeable in puppyhood, and 

 gives the idea, not unfrequently a correct one, of water on 

 the brain. 



Scrofula, when once localized, may remain latent for a 

 long period, gradually and manifestly developed. In an 

 hereditary diathesis, it usually exhibits itself shortly before 

 the animal arrives at maturity, or, as in the human subject, 

 remains through life in statu quo, Xa become developed and 

 distinctly marked in the offspring. 



Treatment. — I need scarcely observe that the treatment of 

 scrofula in the dog is of far less importance than are pre- 

 ventive measures. When treatment is adopted, it should be 

 merely for humanity's sake, and never for the purpose of 

 maintaining life in order to perpetuate the breed. A 

 tainted strain of this description is neither a credit to the 

 breeder, nor beneficial to the canine race. 



The treatment is both local and constitutional. The for- 

 mer consists in cold baths and friction, and keeping the skin 

 dry and warm. Cleanliness is of great importance. Animals 

 that are allowed to live in filth, and remain unwashed, un- 

 combed or brushed, under such circumstances are exposed tq 

 the development of strumous affections. It has been wrongly 

 supposed that the dog does not perspire, hence perhaps one 

 reason for negligence in attention to his body, externally. He 

 not only perspires, but does so freely, a,nd the arrest of such 

 perspiration, from uncleanliness, cutaneous disease, and the 

 like, creates serious functional derangement (frqm re-absorp- 



