The dog / by William Youatt.

  • Youatt, William, 1776-1847.
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The dog / by William Youatt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    269/320 (page 257)
    The most useful consist of five parts of sublimed sulphur, one of nitre, one of linseed meal, and two of lard or palm oil. Alum is a powerful a.stringent, whether employed externally or inter- nally. It is occasionally administered in doses of from 10 to 15 grains in obstinate diarrhoea. In some obstinate cases, alum whey has been em- ployed in the form of a clyster. Oxide of Antimony, in the form of a compound powder, and under the name of James’s pf)wder, is employed as a sudorific, or to cause a deter- mination to the skin. The Antimonii Potassio Tartras (Tartar Emetic), besides its effect on the skin, is a useful nauseant, and invaluable in inflammation of the lungs and catarrhal affections of every kind. The Black Sesquisulphuret of Antimony is a compound of sulphur and antimony, and an excellent alterative. Argenti Nitras—Nitrate of Silver {Lunar Caustic').—I have already strongly advocated the employment of this caustic for empoisoned wounds and bites of rabid animals. In my opinion it supersedes the use of every other caustic, and generally of the knife. I have also given it internally as a tonic to the dog, in cases of chorea, in doses from an eighth to a quarter of a grain. A dilute solution may be employed as an excitant to wounds, in which the healing process has become sluggish. For this purpose, ten grains or more may be dissolved in a fluid ounce of distilled water. A few fibres of tow dipped in this solution, being drawn through the channel v.'hich is left on the removal of a seton, quickly excite the healing action. Occasionally one or two drops of this solution may be introduced into the eye for the purpose of removing opalescence of the cornea. In cases of fungoid matter being thrown out on the cornea, the fungus may be touched with a rod of nitrate of silver, and little pain will follow. The Peruvian Bark, or its active principle the disulphate of quina, is a valuable tonic in distemper, especially when combined with the iodide of iron ; the iron increasing the general tone of the system, and the iodine acting as a stimulant to the absorbents. Blisters are occasionally useful or indispensable in some of the casualties and diseases to which the dog is liable. They are mostly of the same de- scription, and act upon the same principles as in the horse, whether in the form of plaster, or ointment, or stimulating fluid. Blisters can be kept on the dog with difficulty : nothing short of a wire muzzle will suffice ; Mr. Blaine says, that for very large dogs, he used to be compelled to make use of a perforated tin one. The judgment of the practitioner will determine in those cases, as well as with regard to the horse, whether the desired effect should be produced by severe measures or by those of a milder cha- racter, by active blisters or by nulder stimulants: the difficulty of the measures to be adopted, and the degree of punishment that may be inflicted, being never forgotten by the operator. We have stated in our work on the Horse, that “ the art of blisterinor consists in cutting or rather shaving the hair perfectly close ; then well rubbing in the ointment, and afterwards, and, what is of the greatest con- sequence of all, plastering a little more of the ointment lightly over the part, and leaving it. As soon as the vesicles have perfectly risen, which will be in twenty or twenty-four hours, the torture of the animal may be somewhat relieved by the application of olive or neat’s-foot oil, or any emollient ointment. a