204 DOGS : THEIR MANAGEMENT. 



are often of service, as also are small blisters to the chest. 

 I found great improvement result from wearing a very 

 wide bandage, which was kept wet, and covered with oil 

 silk, round the neck. This is easily made, and strips of 

 gutta percha, or stout leather, will prevent it being 

 doubled up by the motions of the head ; and it is scarcely 

 a disfigurement, since it only looks like a large collar. 

 A seton in the throat may be tried, but though often bene- 

 ficial, it ought only to be inserted by a person acquainted 

 with the anatomy of the dog ; for the jugular veins in this 

 animal are connected by several large branches, which 

 run just where the seton would be introduced. These 

 could not be pierced with impunity, nor ought the seton 

 to be left in so long as might induce sloughing, when the 

 vessels probably would be opened ; for as the dog badly 

 sustains the loss of blood, the result would surely be fatal. 

 Internal medicines are not to be neglected. All seda- 

 tives, balsams, expectorants, and peppers, with some 

 alkalies and stimulants, may be tried, and even alterative 

 doses of mercury with caution resorted to. Dogs are 

 more peculiar with respect to the medicines that act upon 

 individuals than any other animals I am acquainted with. 

 That which touches one will be inoperative upon another ; 

 and what violently affects one, will on a second, apparently 

 of the same bulk, strength, age, and character, be actually 

 powerless. This renders dog-practice so difficult, and 

 makes the explanation of any decided mode of treatment 

 almost impossible. A great deal must necessarily be left 

 to the discretion of the practitioner, who, despite his 



