INFLAMMATION OF THE LIVER. 457 



the motions are clay- coloured or slaty. If these symptoms are 

 not soon relieved, the case ends fatally, sickness coming on, and 

 the strength being rapidly exhausted. The treatment should he, 

 first, a considerable abstraction of blood ; then give the bolus (13); 

 and, as soon as it has acted, rub on to the right side, over the liver, 

 the embrocation (42) or (43); and, at the same time, give calomel 

 and opium, of each a grain in a pill, every four hours, taking care 

 to keep the bowels open by the bolus (13), or by castor oil (1 5). 

 As soon as the proper colour returns to the motions, the calomel 

 may be entirely or partially discontinued, substituting small doses 

 of rhubarb and ipecacuanha. An emetic in the early stage (45) 

 will sometimes act like a charm, unloading the liver, and thus 

 at once cutting short the congestion, but when inflammation has 

 set in actively it is worse than useless, inasmuch as it aggravates 

 the disease tenfold. 



Chronic hepatitis is more frequently caused by improper food 

 than exposure, and is very different in its symptoms from the acute 

 form. Whenever the faeces are pale, or dark, or slate-coloured, 

 the approach of this disease may be suspected, and appropriate 

 treatment should be commenced ; but it is not until the liver is 

 perceptibly enlarged, and the dog is evidently out of condition, 

 that it is generally considered to be established, and then scarcely 

 any remedies will be of much service. At this time there is often 

 not only a hard enlarged state of the liver, easily felt through 

 and below the ribs on the right side, but also a yielding watery 

 enlargement of the belly, from a collection of serous fluid, which 

 is thrown out in consequence of the pressure on the veins as they 

 return through the liver itself. The skin is " hidebound," and the 

 hair dull and awry; while, altogether, the dog looks thin and 

 wretched. The treatment consists in the use of small doses of 

 mercury, or podophyllin, according to the state of the liver (1) 



