422 The Management and Diseases of the Dog. 



tion of this agent when too freely used in skin-dressings, or from 

 licking the same. , 



Aaionsand Uses.—\^ excessive doses, an irritant poison. 

 Medicinally, sedative, anodyne, astringent, and antiseptic. Ex- 

 ternally, antiseptic, deodorizer, disinfectant, caustic, and styptic. 



Antidotes. — Albumen ; soap ; demulcent drinks. 



Doses, — Crystals, i to 5 grains. , 



ERGOT OF RYE. 



Ergot of rye is a poison, but neither so powerful nor so certain 

 in its effects on the lower animals as on man. 



Actions and Uses. — " When given in single large doses, it causes 

 local irritation of the parts with which it comes in contact, and 

 subsequently affects the nervous system, especially the spinal cord. 

 When given to dogs, it produces vomiting, tenesmus, and after a 

 variable but generally short time, dulness, prostration of muscular 

 power, and spasms, chiefly of the diaphragm. These effects are 

 produced in small dogs by doses of from six to twelve drachms. 

 Twenty-four drachms proved fatal to a terrier bitch in twenty-four 

 hours. When injected into the veins of the dog in quantities of 

 from two to six drachms, dissolved in several ounces of water, it 

 causes, first, great excitement and excessive acceleration of the 

 pulse ; and then, after a variable time, depression, paralysis, 

 especially of the hinder extremities, spasms, and coma. Death 

 ensues, generally from paralysis of the heart, in from five minutes 

 to two hours. When injected into the arteries, it acts still more 

 rapidly. If placed underneath the cellular tissue, or in contact with 

 a recent wound, it causes much irritation and inflammation, the 

 formation of foetid unhealthy pus, and great depression of the 

 vital powers." — Finlay Dun. 



Medicinally, a parturient ; styptic in pulmonary hsemorrhage, 

 and also externally. 



Doses. — \ to I drachm. 



CANTHARIDES. 

 Actions and Uses. — In large doses, an irritant poison, producing 

 gastro-enteritis, nephritis, inflammation of the bladder, coma, 

 convulsions, and death. Orfila "found that a drachm and a half 

 of a strong oleaginous solution, injected into the jugular vein of a 

 dog, killed it in four hours with symptoms of violent tetanus ; 

 that three drachms of the tincture with eight grains of powder 

 suspended in it caused death in twenty-four hours, if retained in 



