THE SPLEEN AND PANCREAS. 583 



may also use some of the mineral acids, the dilute nitric or nitro-hydrochloric with taraxacum. If 

 the reader cares to try the effect of mercury in some form, he may do so, giving small doses 

 of calomel combined with aloes, in the morning, for two or three days ; but probably in this case 



$k Calomel ... ... gr. j. ad gr. v. 



Aloes gr. v. ad gr. xx. 



Mucilag. ... ... q. s. 



F- pil j. M. 



podophyllin will be found as effectual and less dangerous, especially if combined with small doses 

 of rhubarb. Instead of the nitrate of potash in the dog's drink, the bicarbonate, a tea-spoonful or 

 two, may be given with advantage. 



The food should be light, and easily digested ; boiled eggs, bread puddings, bread-and-butter 

 with a little beef-tea, and a very little raw meat minced. 



4. Sluggish Liver. 



Dogs that are over-fed, and not regularly fed, who get but little exercise, and that at no 

 stated time, are apt to suffer from irregularity in the performance of the functions of the liver 

 so important to digestion and life. At one time there is activity of the liver, at another there 

 is inactivity. The stools of a dog suffering thus may one day contain bile in abundance, 

 and on another barely any ; or one portion of the stool is hard and clayey, and the other 

 shows evidence of bile admixture. The dog, too, suffers alternately from constipation and 

 diarrhoea. He is dull, except when taken out for a romp, in which case the air seems to 

 revive him, and for a time he is gay enough ; but he is easily fatigued, and suffers afterwards 

 from any unwonted exertion. His coat is not as it should be ; his tongue is often whitish, or 

 too dark a red ; and his nose dry, either in whole or in part. 



In a case like this we need never prescribe or give medicine, unless it be a simple occasional 

 purgative of castor-oil or rhubarb or aloes. For unless we regulate the animal's food, his 

 exercise, and habits of life, all the medicine in the world will fail to do good. Let this be 

 done ; and give him a bucket-bath every morning, rubbing the dog well down, and turning 

 him out for a romp immediately thereafter. Then, after a week or so of this treatment, give 

 some such gentle liver-exciting tonic as the following : 



9> Podophyll gr. - f \ ad gr. j. 



Ext. hyoscy. gr. j. ad gr. v. 



Pulv. zingib. et pulv. rhci ... a a gr. ij ad gr. viij. 



Ext. tarax. gr. v. ad gr. xv. 



F pil j. M. 



Give this every day at his dinner-time, and let him have no food except two meals a day. 

 In a few weeks such treatment is sure to set him straight again, probably much to the joy of 

 an over-indulgent master or mistress. 



5. The Ailments of tlie Spleen and Pancreas. 







The diagnosis of diseases of the liver is often very difficult ; but still more so is that of 

 the ailments of the spleen and pancreas, and especially of the spleen. That the lower animals 

 suffer from those complaints is only too certain. Tumours of these organs may at times be 

 distinctly felt : but the symptoms allied to the appearance of those tumours are by no means 



