636 
REVIEW. 
surface, and the centre of the cornea ulcerated — nevertheless I let them 
alone, and turn a deaf ear to the entreaties which call on me to relieve so 
terrible an affliction : I forbid even the discharge to be washed off. Nothing 
must go near them; but the treatment must be pursued as though we were 
ignorant that the parts were affected. Any excessive accumulation may be 
gently picked off with the fingers once a-day ; but even this must be per- 
formed with the utmost caution, and in most instances had better be let 
alone. It can only be necessary in dogs that have very long hair, which 
becomes matted and glued together upon the cheeks ; for other animals it 
is not imperative. If the lids should be stuck together, the fastening sub- 
stance may be removed ; but it should not be too quickly done even then. 
All water, either warm, tepid, or cold — every kind of lotion, or any sort of 
salve or powder — will do harm, by either weakening or irritating the organs. 
“The treatment of distemper consists in avoidiug all and everything 
which can debilitate ; it is, simply, strengthening by medicine aided by good 
nursing. It is neither mysterious nor complex, but is both clear and simple 
when once understood. It was ignorance alone which induced men to resort 
to filth and cruelty for the relief of that which is not difficult to cure. In 
animals, I am certain, kindness is ninety-nine parts of what passes for wis- 
dom ; and, in man, I do not think the proportion is much less, for how often 
does the mother’s love preserve the life which science abandons ! To dogs 
we may be a little experimental ; and with these creatures, therefore, there 
is no objection to trying the effects of those gentler feelings, which the very 
philosophical sneer at as the indications of weakness. When I am called to 
see a dog, if there be a lady for its nurse, I am always more certain as to 
the result ; for the medicines I send then seem to have twice the effect.” 
The other most intractable disease in the dog is probably 
the one called mange. 
“ Every affection of the skin in the dog is termed mange. This is very 
wrong ; and receipts for the cure of mange are all nonsense, unless we can 
imagine that one physic is good for various disorders. The dog is very sub- 
ject to mange; that is, the animal’s system can hardly suffer without the 
derangement flying to and developing itself externally, or upon the skin. 
True mange is chiefly caught, being mainly dependant upon contagion ; but 
all the other varieties have the seats internally, and are chiefly owing to the 
keep or lodging. Too close a kennel will give rise to mange ; as will too spare 
or too full a diet ; too much flesh or unwholesome food ; too hard or too 
luxurious a bed. In fact, there is hardly a circumstance to which the animal 
is exposed which will not cause this malady to be developed. Peculiar kinds 
of bedding, as barley straw, will give rise to it ; and particular kinds of diet, 
as subsisting entirely upon flesh food, will produce it. 
* * * * * * 
“ True mange is dependant, as in the horse, upon an insect ; and though 
not commonly met with, is known by the same symptoms as the similar 
affection in the more valuable animal. 
“ The treatment consists in rubbing the body over with some of the various 
dressings for mange ; some of which, however, are compounded for the horse, 
and do not very well suit the canine race. Care should be taken that the 
dressing, of whatever nature it may be, reaches and is expended upon the 
skin, as simply anointing the dog or smearing the salve upon the hair is of no 
earthly use. The unguent which I have employed, and with such success 
as emboldens me to recommend it, is composed of — 
