538 THE BOOK OF TUB Doc. 



out of cold water, and wo-.ind several times round the animal's body the hair being previously 

 wetted and then covered with a dry bandage, or oiled silk may be placed over the wet 

 bandage however, it must be kept wet. This worn for a day or two is found useful in cases of 

 chronic or sub-acute bowel disorder, whether diarrhoea or constipation. It is a good plan, too, 

 to frequently give an injection of simple soap and water ; in the latter complaint warm olive 

 oil injected into the bowel, from one to four or five ounces, and allowed to remain in for twelve 

 hours, or as long as it will stop, does good service in cases where hardened faeces block up 

 the gut. From two drachms up to one ounce of Epsom salts, with a little olive oil, and from 

 three ounces to a pint of weak starch water, is a capital simple enema. 



Two grains of powdered alum to an ounce of water is a nice little wash for sore eyes. 

 Drop a little in night and morning. Cold green tea infusion is another. 



For lingering chronic cases of sore eyes, when the inflammation is not extensive, a very 

 little powdered quinine is a good thing to' blow in through a quill on them in the morning. 



Tincture of arnica half an ounce, one ounce of brandy, and a tumblerful of cold water, 

 makes a soothing wash for sprains or bruises from blows. 



When the skin is not off, turpentine acts like a charm to a burn. 



Quinine and cod-liver oil are capital restoratives when a dog is thin and out of sorts. 



Examples might be multiplied, but enough has been said to prove that simple remedies 

 are not always to be despised. 



So valuable an animal as the dog deserves all the care and attention we can give him 

 when ill. It is not possible to cure every case would we could cure more but in the very worst 

 cases there is one thing that can always be done we can alleviate suffering. 



" How," says Sir Thomas, alluding to the treatment of disease, " are we to understand 

 this familiar, and, at first view, almost presumptuous word ? Do we propose to vamp and 

 mend the animal machine when decayed, broken, or out of gear? According to the ordinary 

 sense of those words, surely no. In urging upon medical students the indispensable necessity 

 of anatomical knowledge, the question is sometimes put What would be said of the discretion 

 or sanity of him who, knowing nothing at all of its construction or working, should undertake 

 to repair a damaged watch ? However pertinent in one light the question may seem, it 

 suggests a fallacious analogy. The mechanism which one man has devised and put together 

 may be comprehended, imitated, and, when out of order, repaired by another man of like 

 intellect and skill. But the animal body is the handiwork of Nature. Fashioned in obedience 

 to unchanging laws imposed by the Creator, the processes of its formation can neither be 

 clearly discerned by human intelligence, nor copied by human ingenuity. Through the natural 

 laws thus ordained for its construction and maintenance, and not otherwise, can the imper- 

 fections, the hurts, the derangements, in one word the diseases, of that complex machine be 

 rectified. One of the most wonderful and beneficent endowments of the body is its self-mending 

 power. The art of healing implies indeed some insight, however imperfect, into the operation 

 of the forces by which the body is built-up and sustained, but it requires a clear perception also 

 that through these forces, and through them only, may its flaws be sometimes remedied. The 

 workings of these forces, the results of these laws, we can to a certain extent control and 

 regulate. By removing hindrances to their effective and salutary operation, by arranging the 

 conditions which yield the best means for their success, by thus fostering, assisting, and directing 

 the allotted powers of Nature, we are able, not seldom under Providence to avert disaster, to 

 mitigate suffering, to prolong life, to promote and conduct recovery, and, in a certain limited 

 sense, to cure diseases." 



