DISEASES.] 



VOR I\lOUNTAixN, riELD, AND rAll-M. 



[UAOIES. 



antimony, and a pint and a-lialf of syrup of 

 hiiclvtlioru, wliicli aiiswois lor thirty couple of 

 hounds. Aloes, in our opinion, form the best 

 Ljoueral purge for doys ; and hueh arc tho 

 jieeuliarities of their bowels, thut while a niau 



ledge of this fact may bo tlio means of Baving 

 the life of many a poor animal. 



" One of the earliest hymploms of rabies iu 

 a dog," says !Mr. liiehardaou, " is restlessness. 

 He is constantly turning round and round 



can take, with impunity, us nujch ealomel as, before ho will lie down; his countcnanco 

 would kill two large dogs, a moderate-sized] becomes anxious; his eyes bloodshot; ho 



dog will take a quantity of aloes sullieient to 

 destroy two stout men. Tho smallest dog can 



fancies that ho sees objects around hint which 

 havo no real existence, and he snaps at tho 



take fifteen or twenty grains; half a drachm I empty air; his fondness for his master in- 

 is seldom too much; but tho smaller dose had creases, and with it his propen.siLy to lick tho 



better be tried first. ^Medium-sized dogs 

 usually require a dracbm ; and some large 

 do'^3 have taken more than two drachms. We 

 have ourselves given three to a strong New- 

 foundland dog without extreme catharsis ; but, 

 as before observed, dogs differ much iu their 

 difl'erent habits, and it is, therefore, the most 

 prudent plan to begin with a dose too small, 

 than too large. Hundreds of dogs are, 

 every year, destroyed by temerity in this 

 particular." 



The alterative medicines for dogs are butter- 

 milk and whey, which are good for cutaneous 

 aflectious. The nitrate of potash (nitre), iu 

 aoses of from four to ten grains, for heat of 

 the blood or redness of the skin. Cream of 

 tartar may also be given in large doses in the 

 same cases. As dogs are easily salivated, all 



hands and face — a filthy practice at any time, 

 and ono most dangerous ; for the virus gene- 

 rated under the influence of rabies is deposited 

 on the surface, and acts as if tho person had 

 been inoculated by it. Children should never 

 be sufiered to indulge dogs in this filthy habit. 

 In a state of confirmed rabies, the appetite 

 becomes depraved; his natural food is ne- 

 glected, and, at the same time, every sort of 

 filthy trash is greedily devoured. Eating his 

 own excrement is an early symptom, and so 

 sure a one, that the moment a dog is seen 

 doing so, he should be destroyed, or, at all 

 events, carefully confined. 



" Eubbiug the paws against the sides of the 

 mouth. If this be done to remove a hone, 

 the mouth will remain open; but when it 

 takes place as the precursor of rabies, the jaws 



the preparations of mercury should be very | close after the rubbiug ceases, 

 cautiously given. Sulphur affects dogs but " Soon follows an insatiable iliirst ; so insati- 

 slightly. ' Where, however, there aa-e diseases able that the poor animal often plunges his 

 of the skin, it may be given in combination whole muzzle into the water ; and here you 



with a moderate quantity of cream of tartar. 



Emetics have been questioned as good reme- 

 dies in dog diseases. The best, in cases of dis- 



may observe spume left upon the surface. 

 Soon the dog falls, or staggers, and sometimes, 

 but not invariably, becomes delirious. Death 



temper, is tartarised antimony, which may be speedily ensues uuder these symptoms, 

 given in milk or soup, or as a ball, rolled The origin of this terrific disease is, by the 

 up in a piece of meat or butter. The quan- most experienced veterinarians, assigned to 

 tity must be proportioned to the size and | inoculation ; but the first animal that indi- 

 strength of the dog; from one grain, as the cated its symptoms must have generated it 

 smallest, to five as the largest dose. As a' spontaneously. It was long supposed that 

 cleansing emetic, calomel, of from four to six heat w as a prolific cause ; but this has been 



or eight graius, is good. 



RABIES, OR CANINE MADNESS. 



proved not to bo the case. The disease ia 

 hardly kuowu on the continent of South Ame- 

 rica: it is entirely unknown iu Egypt ; and 

 Hydrophobia — a term expressing fear of Syria has never been visited by it. Neither is 



xcaier — is, when used to mark this malady iu 

 the dog, quite incorrect ; for a dog labour- 

 ing under rabies will drink water, not only 

 willingly, but greedily, to the very last. "Where 

 rabies exists, dogs never have ft Is. A kuow- 

 3p 



extreme cold fiivourable to its generation, for it 

 has never made its appearance in Greenland. 

 M. Audry, a French writer on this subject, 

 says, that January, the coldest, and August, the 

 hottest mouth, furnish the fewest instances 



473 



