INTRODUCTION. 



the first course, discontinued. There can be no doubt 

 that before long the public will be sufficiently impressed 

 with a movement of this kind to give it adequate support. 



Pew branches of medical practice are more beset with 

 empirics than this. We are constantly hearing of men 

 who are " good hands with dogs/' who certainly have 

 attained a fair amount of skill in minor operations and 

 nursing, and so are better than the absolutely ignorant, 

 but who are not to be trusted in the treatment of disease, for 

 they have a knowledge neither of the interior economy of 

 the dog nor of the action of the medicines which they 

 use. They like medicines which show some clear and 

 indubitable evidence of their action, hence the very 

 frequent and excessive use commonly made of emetics and 

 cathartics in canine practice. 



There is a delicacy of manipulation and a refinement 

 in practice needed in the medical treatment of dogs 

 which is not required so much in the treatment of larger 

 animals. The tissues are very delicate, the nervous organi- 

 sation is high, these patients can be more readily handled 

 and controlled than the larger forms, and are generally 

 nursed and tended with greater assiduity. Much tact, 

 too, is needed in management of dog owners, especially 

 where the fancy breeds are concerned. The pain neces- 

 sarily inflicted at times for the ultimate benefit of the 

 patient proves distressing to the fair owner ; instructions 

 as to strict regimen are liable to be infringed through 

 mistaken kindness ; and there are a number of other 

 disturbing elements in most dog cases with which the 

 medical adviser soon becomes familiar. 



The dog, as a carnivorous mammal, differs from the 

 herbivora in a number of essential and important respects. 

 That his movements may be prompt, free, and swift, his 

 skeleton is light, and its component parts dense to atone 

 for want of bulk ; they are also numerous, and have well- 

 developed processes for the attachment of muscles. 

 There is not nearly so much fibrous tissue in the carni- 

 vora as the herbivora, the muscles of the former being 

 adapted rather for sharp powerful action than for sus- 



