UPLAND SHOOTING. 
351 
merous. Epsom salts— sutyhate of magnesia —dose one drachm 
to two; castor oil, two drachms to four; syrup of buckthorn, 
the same quantity, will either of them answer this end, the 
quantities being increased if those mentioned are not found suf¬ 
ficient : but as these directions are intended to meet the tender 
pet of the drawing-room, as well as the strong inhabitant of the 
kennel, so it is prudent to specify the minor dose : more may 
be added, but it is too late to subtract when too much has been 
given. 
“Purgatives may be made by increasing the doses of any of the 
laxatives. Jalap is not a bad purgative to dogs, but it is uncer¬ 
tain, some being little affected by it; rhubarb is equally so; 
senna I have no experience of; gamboge is very drastic; calo¬ 
mel is an excellent auxiliary to other purgatives on some occa¬ 
sions ; but given alone it is apt to deceive, by proving more 
emetic than purgative; neither will the stomach or bowels bear 
a sufficient quantity without producing much derangement in 
the system, as violent vomiting, tenesmus, and sometimes sud 
den salivation. Aloes form the safest general purge to dogs; 
and such are the peculiarities of the canine bowels, that while a 
man can take with impunity as much calomel as would kill two 
large dogs, a moderate-sized dog will take a quantity of aloes 
sufficient to destroy two stout men. The smallest dog can take 
fifteen or twenty grains ; half a drachm is seldom too much, but 
the smaller dose had better be tried first: medium-sized dogs 
usually require a drachm, and some large dogs have taken 
more than two drachms : I have given three to a strong New¬ 
foundland dog without extreme catharsis; but as before ob¬ 
served, dogs differ much in their different habits, and it is there¬ 
fore most prudent to begin with a dose too small than too 
large : hundreds of dogs are every year destroyed by temerity 
in this particular. Whenever a purgative is administered, let 
the dog have some vegetable food, if possible, a day or two pre¬ 
viously ; an active cathartic, given soon after a full meal of 
flesh or bones, might destroy by hurrying the undigested food 
into the intestines, where it might form such an impacted and 
vol. i. 25 
