on, for the
pain it will at first produce. The resistance is often strong, and the
cries violent; for in some cases the rectum is so sensitive that the mere
lifting of the tail cannot be silently endured. The poor dog seems in
constant agony; for I have known the exclamations to be provoked by simply
looking at the part, and the animal evidently shrieked from the idea of it
being touched. All possible tenderness, therefore, is required; and the
dog should be very firmly held, to prevent its contortions from adding to
its anguish. When the ointment is regularly and properly employed, the
relief is generally speedy; and after the third day the dog, which had
been so energetically resistful, often submits to be dressed without a
murmur. The cessation of the howling will indicate the progress of the
cure, but the application should be used for some days after the animal
becomes silent. If much stench is present, the fundament may be at each
dressing moistened with very dilute solution of the chloride of zinc, and
a small quantity may be administered as an injection, after the grease has
been introduced.

The constitutional remedies must be regulated by the symptoms, and nothing
absolute can be said on this subject; but in the great majority of
instances tonics will be required. Purgatives are not often needed, but a
day's feed of liver once or twice a week will do no harm. Should it not
have the desired effect, a little olive oil may be given; but nothing
stronger ought to be risked, and above all, no preparation of
mercury--which, in the dog, specially acts upon the rectum--ought on any
account to be permitted.

Piles, if not attended to, become causes of further disease, which may in
some cases prove fatal, though in the larger number of instances they are
far more distressing than dangerous.

A sero-sanguineous abscess, that is, a tumor consisting of a single sac or
numerous small bladders, containing a thin and bloody fluid, is by no
means a rare accompaniment of long-continued piles. These mostly appear
rather to one side of, and more below than above, the opening, the verge
of which they always involve. They occasion little pain, and often grow to
a comparatively enormous size; when they may burst and leave a ragged
ulcer, which has little disposition to heal, and is not improved by the
dog's drawing it along the ground.

When these are observed, the knife should not be too quickly resorted to.
The abscess should