BRONCHOCELE IN THE DOG AND SWINE. 483 
enlarged, varicose, and, as it were, bursting. The trachea is 
pressed upon on either side, and the oesophagus by the left gland, 
and there is difficulty of breathing, and difficulty of swallowing ; 
the poor animal pants distressedly after the least exertion, and I 
have known absolute suffocation ensue. In a few cases ulceration 
has followed, and the sloughing has been dreadful; yet the 
gland has still preserved its characteristic structure. Although 
numerous abscesses have been formed in the lower part of it, 
and there has been considerable discharge, viscid or purulent, 
the upper part has remained as hard and almost scirrhous as 
before. 
Cause of Goitre .—In many cases this enlargement of the thy¬ 
roid glands is plainly connected with a debilitated state of the 
constitution generally, and more particularly with a disposition 
to rickets. I have rarely seen a puppy that has had mange 
badly, and especially if mange was closely followed by dis¬ 
temper, that did not soon exhibit cretinism or goitre. Puppies 
half starved, and especially if dirtily kept, are thus affected; and 
I have generally found it connected with a loose skin, flabby 
muscles, enlarged belly, and great stupidity. On the other 
hand, I have seen hundreds of dogs, to all appearance otherwise 
healthy, in whom the glands of the neck have suddenly and 
frightfully enlarged. I have never been able to trace it to any 
particular food, whether solid or liquid, although it is certainly 
the frequent result of want of nutriment. Two or three friends, 
of whom I particularly inquired, have told me that it is not at 
all prevalent in those parts of Derbyshire where the goitre is 
oftenest seen. It is periodical in the dog. I have seen it under 
medical treatment, and without medical treatment, perfectly 
disappear for awhile; and soon afterwards, without any assign¬ 
able cause, return. There is a larger breed of the Blenheim 
spaniel in which this periodical goitre is very remarkable; the 
slightest cold is accompanied by strange enlargement of the 
thyroid glands, but the swelling altogether disappears in the 
course of a fortnight. I am quite assured that it is hereditary; 
no one that is accustomed to dogs can doubt this for a moment. 
Treatment .—1 am really ashamed to confess how many in¬ 
efficient and cruel methods of treatment I many years ago 
adopted. I used mercurial friction, external stimulants, and 
blisters; I have been absurd enough to pass setons through the 
tumours, and even to extirpate them with the knife. The mer¬ 
cury salivated without purpose—the stimulants and the blisters 
aggravated the evil—the setons did so in a tenfold degree, so 
that some have died under the irritative fever that was produced; 
and although the gland, when dissected out, could not he re pro- 
