SPECIFIC CATARRHAL DISEASE, OR DISTEMPER. 119 



Disulphate of Quina ^ a drachm 



Chamomile flowers, ditto 3 drachms 



Balsam of Peru IJ drachm 



Camphor 1 scruple. 



Mix with conserve of roses into twelve, nine, or six balls, ac- 

 cording to the size of the dog, and give one every four or six hours. 

 Should the purulent flow become foetid and bloody, add to the 

 medicinal mass, cascarilla bark two drachms, powdered opium 

 three grains. I profess myself not to have made much use of 

 cantharides or Spanish flies, as a means of checking the inordinate 

 catarrhal discharge ; but I would nevertheless recommend that a 

 trial should be made of them, when it did not appear to give way 

 to the usual treatment, after the following manner : — 



Cantharides, finely powdered 4 grains 



Gum arable ditto 1 drachm 



Opium ditto 1 grain 



Chamomile flowers ditto 1 drachm. 



Make into twelve, nine, or six balls, and give one night and 

 morning, pushing it to three times a-day, if no amendment takes 

 place. 



Youatt doubts the eificacy of gum resins and balsams; and such is my reli- 

 ance on his judgment, that had he said he was convinced of their inefficacy 

 from his own experience, I should, notwithstanding the benefit I may fancy I 

 have seen attend their use, have even doubted myself; but when he observes, 

 "that they are beginning to get into disrepute in the practice of human medi- 

 cine," and when he appears to give this as the principal grounds of his objec- 

 tion to them, I may still maintain my opinion of their worth. Neither would 

 their inertness in man necessarily prove them so in the diseases of the dog : 

 we should fail to excite vomition in ourselves by any moderate quantity of 

 calomel ; or to excite sleep in the dog by any dose of opium. But these in- 

 gredients are most active in both these instances to the adverse subjects. I 

 would, therefore, recommend them to the trial of the practitioner ; and as long 

 as they appear to do good, to continue them, but no longer. One thing in 

 their favour is, that for years the compound tincture of Benjamin, known as 

 the Friar^s Balsam, was a medicine in high repute in some kennels, where 

 nothing beside was ever given. It formed also a nostrum of public sale and 

 estimation, from experience in its eflficacy. 



