all at once,
though no change was made in the diet; and yet we learn it has been
physicked. No restraint has been put upon buckthorn, castor oil, aloes,
sulphur, and antimony, but yet the belly will not go down--it keeps
getting bigger; and now we are told the animal has a dropsy which "wants
to be cured." It is natural the figure and condition should suggest the
idea of ascites; but the hair does not pull out--none of the legs are
swollen--the shape of the abdomen wants the appearance of gravitation, and
if the patient be placed upon its back the form of the rotundity is not
altered by the position of the body. Moreover, the breathing is tolerably
easy: and, though if one hand be placed against the side of the belly, and
the part opposite be struck with the other, there will be a marked sense
of fluctuation; still we cannot accept so dubious a test against the mass
of evidence that declares dropsy is not the name of the disease. To make
sure, we feel the abdomen near to the line of the false ribs. This gives
no pain, so we press a little hard, and in two or three places on either
side, on the right, or may be the left, high up or low down; for in
abnormal growths there can be no rule--in two or three places we can
detect hard, solid, but smooth lumps within the cavity. This last
discovery leaves no room for further doubt, so we pronounce the liver to
be the organ that is principally affected. In chronic cases, especially
after the dog has begun to waste, enlargement nearly always may be felt,
not invariably hard, yet often so, but never soft or so soft as the other
parts; and this proof should, therefore, in every instance of the kind be
sought for.

With regard to treatment, the food must not be suddenly reduced to the
starvation point. Whether the dog be fat or lean, let the quality be
nutritious, and the quantity sufficient; from a quarter of a pound to a
pound and a half of paunch, divided into four meals, will be enough for a
single day; but nothing more than this must be given. Tonics, to
strengthen the system generally, should be employed; and an occasional
dose of the cathartic pills administered, providing the condition is such
as justifies the use of purgatives. Frequent small blisters, applied over
the region of the liver, may do good; but they should not be larger than
two or four inches across, and they should be repeated one every three or
four days. Leeches put upon the places where hardness can be felt,