that which the stomach has thrown off, but sneaks away dejected, and
afterwards seems dull. Sickness will occasionally continue throughout the
complaint, but in general it departs as the disease appears. Thirst,
however, is always present; and there is also a disposition to seek cold
things and places. The pulse is quicker, but not stronger, and hardly at
first less thin than during health. There is no pain on pressure being
applied to the abdomen. The membranes of the eye are not injected; they
may be a little deeper in color than is strictly natural, but occasionally
they are the reverse. If, however, the anus be gently forced open, so as
to expose the terminating surface of the rectum, the membrane there will
be found more red, and perhaps less clear in tint, than it ought to be;
and the presence of purgation, attended with a violent resistance to the
administration of clysters, will leave no doubt as to the character of the
affection.

In the chronic form, the membrane of the eye is pallid; the nose often
moist; the breath offensive; the appetite ravenous; the pulse quick and
weak; the anus inflamed; mostly protruding, and usually disfigured by
piles; the faeces liquid, and of various hues; sometimes black,
occasionally lighter than usual, very generally mixed with much mucus and
a small quantity of blood, so that the leading symptoms are those of
weakness, accompanied with purgation.

[Illustration: SUPERPURGATION.]

Acute diarrhoea may terminate in twenty-four hours; the chronic may
continue as many days. The first sometimes closes with hemorrhage, blood
in large quantities being ejected, either from the mouth or from the anus;
but more generally death ensues from apparent exhaustion, which is
announced by coldness of the belly and mouth, attended with a peculiar
faint and sickly fetor and perfect insensibility. The chronic more rarely,
ends with excessive bleeding, but almost always gradually wears out the
animal, which for days previous may be paralysed in the hind extremities,
lying with its back arched and its feet approximated, though consciousness
is retained almost to the last moment. In either case, however, the
characteristic stench prevails, and the lower surface of the abdomen, as a
general rule, feels hard, presenting to the touch two distinct lines,
which run in the course of the spine. These lines, which Youatt mentions
as cords, are the recti muscles, which in the dog are composed of
continuous