406 DOGS : THEIR MANAGEMEKT. 



seeing the hardened and lacerated condition of the parts, 

 I had in the first instance anticipated was possible, that I 

 was not exactly prepared for my good fortune. I 

 remained for some time thinking — and, really puzzled, 

 requested those present not to speak. I wanted some 

 combination of medicine which I could not satisfactorily 

 procure. A sedative to the general system was required, 

 but not one that should depress ; as, after operations of 

 this description, the vital powers are disposed to sink, 

 and therefore generally require tobe stimulated. I 

 moreover wanted an excitant to the uterus. Many 

 things were hastily thought of, and as quickly rejected ; 

 and, in my difficulty, I was at last obliged to ask advice 

 of those about me. A bandage or harness to pass over 

 the parts was suggested ; but the almost impossibility of 

 fixing it properly, and the mischievous ingenuity the dog 

 exhibits with its teeth, rendered this plan obviously inap- 

 propriate. One person proposed to adopt the custom — 

 sometimes, I am sorry to say, followed by cow-leeches — 

 of passing stitches through the labia. The brutal and 

 unjustifiable practice was of course rejected, and, I trust, 

 by the members of the veterinary profession, it is never 

 embraced. 



" Fairly at my wits' end, I suddenly determined to 

 try how the injection of cold water into the uterus would 

 act. I knew of no case in which this agent had been 

 employed, and could not feel confidence concerning the 

 consequences of the experiment ; but, in despair, I re- 

 solved to hazard it. A quantity fresh from the pump 

 was therefore obtained, and it was thrown up, being 

 allowed to flow back. A stream of cold water was thus 

 made to pass over the interior of the uterus, and about 

 two quarts had been used before the animal appeared to 

 be at all afiected, excepting that the injection seemed to 



