84 
ON THE DISTEMPER OF DOGS. 
many medicines in our treatment of him. Calomel, aloes, jalap, 
scammony, and gamboge, will generally produce sickness. We 
are, therefore, driven to some mechanical vermifuge ; and a very 
effectual one, and what will rarely fail of expelling even the tape¬ 
worm, is tin-filings or powdered glass. From half a drachm 
to a drachm of either may be advantageously given twice in the 
day. I generally add them to the digitalis, James’s powder, and 
nitre, made into balls with palm oil and a little lintseed-meal. 
This course I would pursue in usual cases until two or three 
emetics had been given, and a ball morning and' night on the 
intermediate days. 
This is the only febrile stage of distemper, if much fever ever 
accompanies it. Should the huskiness after the first two or three 
days not diminish, and the dog not rapidly lose flesh, I should 
be disposed to take a little more blood, and to put a seton in the 
poll; but I would use the proper seton needle, and not the bar¬ 
barous red-hot iron of the farrier. It should be inserted between 
the ears, including as much of the integument as possible, and, 
indeed, reaching from ear to ear. When there is fever and huski¬ 
ness, and the dog is not much emaciated, a seton is an excellent 
remedy; but if it be used indiscriminately, and when the animal 
is already losing ground as fast as he can, and is violently purg¬ 
ing, you will only hasten his doom, or, rather, make it more 
sure. 
It is now, if ever, that pneumonia will be perceived. The 
symptoms of inflammation in the lungs of the dog can scarcely be 
mistaken. The quick and laborious breathing, the disinclination 
or inability to lie down, the elevated position of the head, and the 
projection of the muzzle, will clearly mark it. More blood must 
be subtracted, a seton inserted, the bowels opened with Epsom 
salts, and the digitalis, nitre, and James’s powder given more fre¬ 
quently, and in larger doses. 
Little aid is to be derived from observation of the pulse of the 
dog, it varies so much with the breed, and size, and age of the 
animal. I confess that many years’ practice have failed in en¬ 
abling me to draw any certain conclusion from it. The best 
place to feel the pulse is at the side. One very important in¬ 
formation we may possibly gain from it, viz. whether digitalis is 
producing an intermittent pulse, which it frequently will do, and 
which we wish that it should. The digitalis should then be given 
a little more cautiously, and in smaller quantities. 
If the pneumonia be conquered, or we have proceeded so far 
without any considerable inflammatory affection of the chest, we 
must now begin to change our plan of treatment. If the huskiness 
continues, and the discharge from the nose is increased and thicker, 
