214 WILD NEIGHBORS CHAP, vm 



junctivis) follow, and have been known to produce 

 blindness in a few cases, though usually the injury 

 disappears in a week or ten days. The effect upon 

 the throat and lungs of inhaling any considerable 

 quantity of this substance long ago suggested its 

 value as a specific " in certain spasmodic affections 

 of the air-passages, such as asthma, hooping-cough, 

 and asthmatic croup," but it must be used with 

 caution, if at all, since more than one sufferer, 

 while confessing the relief given, has abandoned the 

 remedy as worse than the ailment. Audubon and 

 Bachman tell a funny story of how an asthmatic 

 preacher emptied his church one morning by at- 

 tempting to take a sniff of the medicine in the pul- 

 pit, and somehow losing control of the stopper of 

 the vial. A sequel of this benefit from the gland- 

 substance has been the application of the oil from 

 the fat of the animal to the relief of similar ail- 

 ments, without any real effect, of course. 



Dogs howl with pain when they get a charge 

 full in the face, and rush anywhere in evident 

 agony, plunging their noses into the dust, drag- 

 ging their faces against the ground, and showing 

 every sign of intense pain. It is doubtful whether 

 the vileness (to us) of the odor has much to do 

 with their distress ; but this point, and its bearings 

 on the question of the value of this discharge as a 

 means of defence, will be considered hereafter. 



The animal makes use of its artillery by turning 

 its stern toward the enemy, elevating its tail, and 



