37° THE MANAGEMENT AND DISEASES OF THE DOG. 



disposition, could not be performed with any degree of com- 

 fort or safety without the employment of an anaesthetic. Of 

 course, there are circumstances in which its administration 

 would be attended with risk — as in some diseases of the res- 

 piratory organs and the heart. I have only witnessed one 

 fatal result, and that occurred in removing a mammary cancer 

 from an old and inordinately fat spaniel bitch. She had re- 

 ceived every preparation, medicinal and otherwise ; the cancer 

 was removed in a few minutes under chloroform, and she im- 

 mediately afterwards ceased to breathe. A post-mortem exam- 

 ination revealed hypertrophy of the heart, with extensive 

 valvular disease, and thus death was readily accounted for. 



On the score of humanity, however, chloroform chiefly 

 demands our-attention ; and with the knowledge that we are 

 not inflicting pain is gained strength of nerve, confidence in 

 ourselves, and, probably, a more successful issue to our 

 patient. 



When, then, we have such a powerful instrument at hand, 

 easy of application, and, with care, harmless in its results, 

 there surely can be no excuse for wanton torture. Indeed, to 

 the right-minded man, the unavoidable infliction of pain must 

 ever be a source of regret. Away with the theory that dumb 

 animals are devoid of imagination, which, it has been ob- 

 served, adds so much "to the torment of human pangs. They 

 are not only imaginative, but their imagination is acutely 

 sensitive, and in the dog and the horse this is particularly 

 the case. 



Rather, therefore, than we should stretch our imagination 

 with so unreasonable a theory, let us use the means placed 

 within our reach to allay suffering, and to afford to those 

 animals which are the firm, faithful friends and companions 

 of man, the best and most humane treatment we are capable 

 of bestowing. So that, as recently remarked by a noble 

 member of my profession, " we may be a blessing to that 

 lower portion of God's creation for which we are so deeply 

 responsible." We must ever remember that the most sacred 



