MEDICINAL TREATMENT 195 
~ Constipation.—Occasionally we have to contend with 
costiveness in cases of distemper, especially at the 
beginning, and such a condition frequently demands 
medicinal or mechanical interference before it can be 
relieved. It is often accompanied by some amount of 
pyrexia, and when neglected, not uncommonly leads to 
troublesome diarrhcea and enteritis. 
Laxatives such as ol. ricini (3ss. to 3i.ss.)—made less 
nauseous by the addition of 10 to 20 drops of ether— 
hydrarg. c. creta (grs. iii. to x.), or casScara sagrada (mv. 
to mlx.), will usually have the desired effect, but where 
they fail, it is unwise to administer further purgatives 
without allowing two or three days to elapse. Better 
resort to the use of mechanical lubricants, such as liquid 
paraffin and glycerine, or glycyrrhiza, the former being 
especially favoured in some quarters. It has no action 
whatever on the bowel other than that of mechanical 
lubrication and protection, for it undergoes no alteration 
during its passage through the alimentary canal. 
In cases of distemper it is best prescribed in the form 
of either petroleum emulsion (containing liquid paraffin 
and the hypophosphites of calcium and sodium), dose 
1 to 4 fluid drachms, or as the proprietary “ Virolax” (60 
per cent. paraffin and 4o per cent. Virol), which is not 
only a laxative and intestinal lubricant, but also a valu- 
able food of pleasant flavour. 
Many veterinarians prefer the employment of enemas 
of warm water in which a little soap has been dissolved, 
or rectal injections of liquid paraffin, plain olive oil, or a 
solution of glycerine and water (i to to). Suppositories 
of glycerine are very convenient in cases of obstinate 
constipation, and since a good many instances of this 
condition arise from the torpidity or dry condition of the 
terminal bowel, the medicant reaches the seat of the 
trouble with good results. 
