58 THOUGHTS ON HUNTING 



with eight grains, and increasing it according to the above direction. The 

 dog should be empty when he takes it, and should have been bled the day 

 before. The dose should be given early in the morning, and the dog may 

 have some thin broth, or pot-liquor, about two or three o'clock, but nothing 

 else during the time he takes the medicine ; he should also be kept from 

 water. The best way to give it is in butter, and made up into balls with a 

 little flour. Care must be taken that he does not throw it up again. After 

 the last day of the medicine, he may be fed as usual. Various are the 

 drenches and medicines which are given for this disorder, and all said to be 

 infallible : this last, however, I prefer. The whole pack belonging to a 

 gentleman in my neighbourhood were bitten ; and he assures me, he never 

 knew an instance of a dog who went mad that had taken this medicine. The 

 caution which I have recommended to you, I flatter myself will preserve you 

 from this dreadful malady ; a malady for which I know not how to recom- 

 mend a remedy. Several years ago I had a game-keeper much bitten in the 

 fleshy part of his thigh : a horse that was bitten at the same time died raving 

 mad : the man was cured by Sir George Cobb's medicine. 1 I have heard 

 that the Ormskirk medicine 2 is also very good. I have given it to several 

 people in my neighbourhood, and, I believe, with success ; at least I have 

 not, as yet, heard anything to the contrary. Though I mention these as the 

 two most favourite remedies, I recommend neither. Somerville's advice, 

 which I have already given, is what I recommend to you : if properly at- 

 tended to, it will prevent the want of any remedy. 



P.S. A Treatise on Canine Madness, written by Dr. James, is worth 

 your reading. You will find that he prescribes the same remedy for the cure 

 of madness in dogs as I have mentioned here, but in different quantities. 

 I have, however, taken the liberty of recommending the quantities above 

 mentioned, as they have been known to succeed in my neighbourhood, and 

 as the efficacy of them has been very frequently proved. 



*i *2 The recipes for these old medicines are given in Daniel's Rural Sports, vol. 1, pp. 129-130. 



