Anasabca, or general dropsy in the dog, is not a very uncommon disease among old kennelled dogs, owing to the improper way in which they are fed and kept without exercise. It consists of an infiltration of serum from the blood vessels into the cellular membrane, caused by the kidneys refusing to act, as a consequence generally of inflammation; and the disease, therefore, is merely a symptom of inflammation of the kidneys, for which reason I might have classed it among the inflammatory diseases, but that it sometimes occurs from a different condition of that organ, owing to a want of tone in the general system. Its most frequent cause is either improper stimulants - in the case of the stallion greyhound, a very frequent cause - or a gross kind of food, or sometimes from simple over-crowding of the dogs in a small kennel, occasioning a breaking down of the system, and an exudation of serum as a consequence. Among over-stimulated pets, which are not allowed any . exercise, it is a very common disease, and often carries them off in a very disgustingly loathsome condition.

When the liver is in fault, by throwing too much work upon the kidneys, as is sometimes the case, the urine is yellow, but in the usual way it is highly charged with salts, and dark brown, not yellow.

The Treatment consists in acting in accordance with the cause - that is to say, in treating the case so as to relieve the dropsy, and not upon any fixed principles ; thus, supposing the kidneys are inflamed, blood must be taken, and calomel and digitalis given in grain doses of each, without any violent diuretics, which will only aggravate the disease. If the dropsy is merely a symptom of a breaking down of the system, this must be propped by bark and steel, with perhaps ammonia in addition. When the urine is mixed with blood, in a broken down constitution, the following mixture may be given, on the authority of Mr. Mayhew, and I have my doubts of its success: - Tincture of cantharides, 3 drops ; water, two ounces. To be given twice a day.

If the dropsy is from the kidneys refusing to act, 6 or 8 grains of nitre may be given two or three times a day, in the diuretic mixture, No. 2, but the great principle is to make out the cause and act accordingly.