190 DISEASES OF THE CHEST. 



less difficulty. Less discharge both from eyes and nose. Bol. utheri. 

 Nov. 7th. Sent home well. 



A singular and not uninstructive case came before me. A lady in the 

 country wrote to me to say, that her terrier was thin, dull, husking, and 

 perpetually trying to get something from the throat ; that her coat stared, 

 and she frequently panted. I replied, that I apprehended she had caught 

 cold ; and recommended bleeding to the extent of four ounces, a grain each 

 of calomel and emetic tartar to be given every fourth morning, and a fever- 

 ball, composed of digitalis, nitre, and tartrate of antimony, on each inter- 

 mediate day. 



A few days after this I received another letter from her, saying, that 

 the dog was bled as ordered, and died on the following Thursday. That 

 another veterinary surgeon had been called in, who said that the first one 

 had punctured the vena cava in the operation, and that the dog had bled 

 to death internally ; and she wished to know my opinion. I replied, that 

 the charge proceeded from ignorance or malice, or both. That in one 

 sense he was right the jugular, which the other had probably opened, 

 runs into the vena cava, and may, with some latitude, be considered a 

 superior branch of it ; therefore, thus far the first man had punctured the 

 vena cava, which I had done many hundred times ; but that the point of 

 union of the four principal veins that form the vena cava was too securely 

 seated in the upper part of the thorax for any lancet to reach it. That 

 the rupture of some small arterial vessel might have caused this lingering 

 death, but that the puncture of a vein would either have been speedily 

 fatal, or of no consequence ; arid that, probably, the animal died of the 

 disease which she had described. 



SPASMODIC COUGH 



is a troublesome disease to manage. Dogs, and especially those consider- 

 ably petted, are subject to frequent cough, requiring a material difference 

 in the treatment. Sometimes there is a husky cough, not to so great a 

 degree as in distemper, but followed by the same apparent effort to get 

 something from the throat, the same attempt to vomit, and the ejection of 

 mucus, frothy or adhesive, and occasionally discoloured with bile. It 

 proceeds from irritability or obstruction in some of the air-passages, and 

 oftenest of the superior ones. An emetic will clear the fauces, or at least 

 force out a portion of the adhesive matter which is clogging the bronchial 

 tubes. 



A cough of this kind, and attended in its early stages by little fever, 

 seldom requires anything more for its cure than the exhibition of a few 

 gentle emetics, consisting of equal portions of calomel and emetic tartar, 

 given in doses varying from half a grain to one grain and a half of each. 



A harsh hollow cough is attended by more inflammatory action. The 

 depletive system must be adopted here. A loud and harsh cough will 

 yield only to the lancet and to purgatives, assisted by sedative medicines 

 composed of nitre, antimonial powder, and digitalis, or small doses of syrup 

 of poppies, or more minute doses of the hydrocyanic acid ; this last medi- 

 cine, -however, should be carefully watched, and only given under surgical 

 advice. 



28th October, 1 842. A spaniel was apparently well yesterday, but towards 

 evening a violent cough suddenly came. on. It was harsh and hollow, and 



