Recipe (No. 24). Strong Liquid Blister

Take - Powdered Alkanet root, two ounces; Spirit of turpentine, a gallon.

Pour the turpentine on the alkanet root, and let it macerate three days, frequently shaking it;' on the fourth day let it stand undisturbed; then put one pound of Spanish flies, powdered, into another jar, and pour on them the clear turpentine from the first jar. Let these macerate a month, daily shaking them; then let the jar stand undisturbed four days, and pour off the clear fluid for use.

(Preserving the proportions where a smaller or larger quantity is to be made.)

At the moment of the fit, do not let the poor animal be thrown into water, or a quantity of cold water sluiced over him; it will be quite sufficient to take him by the nape of the neck with the left hand, and dash a little cold water against his muzzle from a tea-cup with the right hand, and the fit will usually cease in an instant

During the whole of the disease, the dog should be kindly treated. Few persons are aware how far this will go in preventing fits, or recovering the dog from them, and effecting a cure.

If fits should degenerate into chorea, or a spasmodic action of some limb, or if this spasmodic action should follow distemper, without the intervention of fits, it is not often that the dog will recover the full use of his limbs. A seton will here also be indispensable; costive-ness must be prevented by occasional doses of castor-oil; the dog must be well fed, and a course of tonic medicine must be long persisted in. The tonic balls (Recipe No. 22, p. 191) may first be tried, and, should they fail, the following may be given, and usually with much success.

Recipe (No. 25). Tonic Pills For Chorta

Take - Nitrate of silver (lunar caustio), eight grains; Ginger, powdered, a scruple; Simple syrup, a sufficient quantity; Divide them into sixty-four pills, and give one or two, according to the size of the dog, morning and night

If no amendment is produced in the course of three weeks, it will be useless to pursue the treatment There will always, however, be one guide that will not deceive the practitioner: - if the dog is gaining flesh, although exceedingly slowly, he will ultimately get well; but if, after the appearance of chorea, he should continue regularly to lose flesh, however slow may be the progress -of the emaciation, he will ultimately be lost.

The distemper frequently attacks a dog before he has attained his first year. As a preliminary observation, it may be remarked, that the same membrane which lines the nostrils, extends down the windpipe into the lungs; and the distemper, in the first instance, may be regarded as an inflammation of this membrane, which, if not timely removed, extends down to the lungs, where suppuration will soon be produced, when the animal's eye will become dull, accompanied by a mucous discharge, a cough, and loss of appetite. As the disease advances it presents various appearances; but is frequently attended with twitchings about the head, while the animal becomes excessively weak in the loins and hinder extremities. Indeed he appears completely emaciated, and smells intolerably. At length the twitchings assume the appearance of convulsive fits, accompanied with giddiness, which causes the dog to turn around. He has a constant disposition.to dung, with excessive costiveness, or incessant purging. ;

On the first appearance of the symptoms which I have described, I should recommend that the dog be bled very freely, and that his body be opened with a little castor-oil or syrup of buckthorn. This will, generally, remove the disease altogether, if applied the moment the first symptoms appear. If, however, this treatment should not have the desired effect, and a cough ensues, accompanied with a discharge of the nose, give from two grains to eight of tartar emetic, (according to the age and size of the dog) every other day. When the nervous symptoms ensue, which I have already described, external stimulants (such as sal-ammoniac and oil, equal parts) should be rubbed along the course of the spinal marrow, and tonics given internally, such as bark, etc.

Of the various remedies the following was given, with success, to a dog so afflicted as to be scarcely able to stand; viz:

Recipe (No. 26)

Turbeth's mineral, six grains; Mixed with sulphur, and divided into three doses, one given every other morning. Let a few days elapse, and then repeat the course.

Another:

Recipe (No. 27)

Calomel, one grain and a half; Rhubarb, five grains; Given every other day for a week.

Another:

Recipe (No. 28)

Antimonial powder, sixteen grains; Powdered Foxglove, one grain; Made into four boluses with conserve of roses, and one given at night, and another the next morning, for two days.

I have uniformly found a complete cure effected from copious and repeated venesection, in the early stages of the distemper, accompanied with a little opening medicine, - syrup of buckthorn, for instance. In the kennel of Sir Harry Mainwaring the distemper generally swept away a third of the young dogs, at least. My system of treating the disease has since been adopted with the most beneficial effect.