598 
ON ENTERITIS IN THE DOG. 
Another fit of pain comes on—-he utters his peculiar yelp, and 
seeks some new place in which he possibly may find rest. 
It is with great diffidence that I offer an opinion contrary to that 
of the father of canine pathology. Mr. Blaine states that the 
treatment of this species of colic is seldom successful; but that 
which has seemed the most efficacious has been mercurial purga¬ 
tives, as calomel, one grain; aloes, a scruple ; and opium a quar¬ 
ter of a grain, until the bowels are open.” In my practice, how¬ 
ever, neither so extensive nor so “ successful” as his—for he was, 
indeed, master of his profession—-I have seldom found much diffi¬ 
culty in relieving the patient suffering under this affection; and I 
gave no aloes, no calomel; but I certainly retained the opium in the 
oleaginous mixture to which I have so often referred. I should not 
so much object to the aloes, for they constitute the best—the only 
purgative for the dog; nor, to a dog that I was preparing for work, 
or that was suffering from worms, should I object to two or three 
grains of calomel, intimately mixed with the aloes. From the 
combined effect of the two much good would here be effected. 
I admire the caution with which it is administered by Mr. Blaine 
in these cases of supposed colic—one grain for a young dog, two 
for a dog of some strength and size, and three for a Newfoundland 
dog. I could forgive this, and the repetition of it, if well guarded 
with opium; but I read with some degree of surprise—not to use a 
stronger term—the confession of one gentleman, that he had given 
as much as fifteen grains, combined with opium, and repeated the 
dose, and that he had even exhibited scruple doses. I would, with 
Mr. Sibbald, deprecate the use of such murderous quantities. I 
would offer my thanks to the President of the evening for entering 
his protest against such a mode of proceeding. In our treatment 
of the horse, we have god rid of the destructive urine balls, and 
drastic purgatives of the farrier. The poor cow is no longer 
drenched with half a dozen destructive stimulants. A most de¬ 
sirable change has been effected in the medical treatment of these 
animals. Let us not, with regard to the faithful dog, continue 
disgracefully to pursue the destructive course of the keeper or the 
huntsman. I have heard sportsmen boast of having given a drachm 
of calomel to a dog; and my language to them has uniformly been as 
stern and as decisive as the relation between us would permit. In 
the greater number of cases, when we have met again, they have 
thanked me for the schooling which I gave them, and have told me 
to what an almost incredible degree the number of deaths has dimi¬ 
nished in their kennels. 
If I regain a little more strength, I shall, ere long, take up this 
subject in the continuation of “ the Farmers’ Series,” which has 
