Gastritis, or inflammation of the stomach, is either acute or chronic. Acute gastritis is generally caused by poison administered wilfully, or by some similar accidental circumstance, such as highly-seasoned food, Ac. There is constant violent retching, with intense thirst, and apparently great pain. The nose is dry, and the breathing quick ; no kind of food is retained on the stomach ; and the poor wretch lies extended on the cold earth with his belly applied closely to it. There is a constant desire to lick cold marble or iron, so as to cool the tongue, and cold water is eagerly sought after.

The Treatment chiefly consists in removing the sickness, which is best accomplished by calomel and opium, 1 grain of each in a pill twice a day.

Hepatitis, or Inflammation of the Lives, is one of the most common of all diseases to which the dog is subject. In the acute form it is the disease which is characterised by the yellow skin and eyes, commonly called " the yellows," which in sporting dogs is very commonly fatal. Acute hepatitis comes on from exposure to cold and wet, one or two days after which the dog is shivering and feverish, with a small, hard, and wiry pulse, and a dry nose; there is generally obstinate costiveness, and when the bowels are moved, the motions are white or slate-coloured and entirely devoid of bile. If these symptoms are not soon alleviated, the inflammation goes on to destroy the substance of the liver, and the dog dies rapidly from constitutional disturbance, arising chiefly from the want of depurating power of the liver. To remove the inflammation, bleeding is sometimes necessary in the early stage, but as it reduces the strength greatly, and as this is required to be kept up during convalescence, it is always attended with danger. Calomel, with or without opium, is the only medicine to be relied on in extreme cases, but when there is time enough, podophyllin may be substituted for it.

If there is no diarrhoea produced by these drugs, opium may be omitted, but it must be added to counteract that effect in sufficient doses. If the bowels are confined, a dose of rhubarb and castor-oil may be given, mixing 10 grains of rhubarb with a tablespoon-ful of oil and a teaspoonful of syrup of poppies for a full-sized dog, and less, in proportion, for a smaller one. Sometimes a blister must be applied to the side when the inflammation runs very high; and, in all cases, the mercury must be continued until the motions acquire a natural colour, when the stomachic No. 2 may be given and the mercury discontinued. Chronic hepatitis is a very different disease, and is more frequently the result of bad general management than of cold. Want of exercise is the usual cause, which has given the liver the work of the lungs. The symptoms of chronic hepatitis are multiform, and no one can be depended upon except the absence of bile in the faeces, which is an invariable sign, for no gland in a state of chronic inflammation will be able to secrete good bile.

The Treatment is to be conducted by rubbing into the region of the liver on both sides the ointment of biniodide of mercury, together with castor oil and rhubarb internally, in sufficient doses to keep the bowels gently moved. If the mercurial ointment does not soon cause the bile to flow, it may be assisted by small doses of blue pill or Plummer's pill, added to the rhubarb and oil, and the stomachic draught, No. 2, should be regularly administered in addition. If these means are perseveringly continued, and the dog is regularly but gently exercised, with plain farinaceous food, mixed with weak broth, the disease, unless very inveterate, will generally subside, and if a free flow of bile is obtained little doubt need be felt of the ultimate recovery.