160 DIARRHCEA, OR PROFUSE PURGING. 



spoonful every four, six, or eight hours. In very obstinate cases 

 try the following : — 



No. 4. Powdered resin 3 drachms 



Powdered opium 6 grains 



Powdered chalk 2 drachms 



Powdered alum 1 drachm. 



Conserve of roses sufficient for balls : 



Form into four, six, or eight balls, according to the size of the 

 dog, of which give one every two or three hours. 



It is necessary to be aware that the action of astringents is 

 varied and uncertain. In one case one remedy only will prove 

 successful, and in another a very diflFerent one will alone do good. 

 But in the looseness that accompanies distemper, it may be ob- 

 served as a general rule, that absorbent astringents succeed best. 

 In some very desperate cases of diarrhoea, when all other means 

 have failed, I have derived great benefit from astringent clysters ; 

 and this so frequently, that I would, in all such instances, strongly 

 recommend their adoption. From the benefit that is frequently 

 experienced from their use, and from the tenesmus and appear- 

 ance of the stools, in which a drop or two of blood is squeezed out 

 at the last expulsive effort, we might judge that the rectum, or 

 sometimes the colon, is, in many cases, the principal seat of the 

 complaint, and post-mortem examinations shew this to be actually 

 the case. 



Astringent clysters may be composed of alum whey, which is 

 nothing more than milk curdled with alum. Suet, boiled in milk, 

 is also an excellent clyster for the purpose. Boiled starch is like- 

 wise a valuable astringent clyster, and, perhaps, is the very best 

 that can be used, if the powder No. 1 be added to it. In diarrhoea, 

 it is of the greatest consequence that the strength should be sup- 

 ported by liberal but judicious feeding ; and it must not be for- 

 gotten that, when the appetite ceases, starch, with gravy, should 

 be forced down in small quantities, but often. The animals 

 affected with this complaint should be kept very quiet and warm, 

 both which parts of the treatment must be carefully attended to. 



