198 HARE-HUNTING AND HARRIERS 



For influenza, calomel is still one of the soundest 

 of all remedies, if exhibited in the early stage of the 

 illness and provided the hound is in good condition. 



Beckford mentions with favour a remedy said to 

 have been of great service in his time, viz., an ounce 

 of Peruvian bark in a glass of port wine, taken twice 

 a day. He mentions also, in his humorous way, the 

 case of a stag-hound, which, treated in this manner, 

 drank three bottles of port in five days ! " You may 

 think, perhaps," he adds, with a twinkle, " that the 

 feeder drank his share, and, probably, he might, had 

 it not been sent ready mixed up in the bark." At 

 all events, the hound recovered. Beckford's chapters 

 on disease and distemper are even now well worth 

 reading. But, indeed, what part of his book is not ? 

 I believe that port wine and quinine are likely to do 

 as much good in distemper as any other remedy of 

 the present day. 



" Stonehenge's " remedy is as follows : " Compound 

 tincture of bark, three ounces ; decoction of yellow 

 bark, fourteen ounces ; to be given twice or thrice 

 daily, in doses of three table-spoons. A table-spoon 

 of castor oil and syrup of buckthorn is often advo- 

 cated in the early stages." Warmth, dry quarters, 

 port wine, and essence of beef are valuable aids, which 

 must never be neglected ; but, as a rule, nature takes 

 her own course, and is not to be denied. For this and 

 other diseases help may be obtained by recourse to 

 some good modern book on the dog ; but the safest 

 and most effectual precaution is to call in at once the 

 services of a good veterinary surgeon. Many of them 

 nowadays are specialists in dog diseases. Most 

 kennel huntsmen have their own patent nostrum for 

 distemper, and in a mild season these may apparently 

 succeed ; but when the disease is reaUy, as in 1902, 



