be allowed to progress until it is fully matured, the
dog being in the meantime treated for simple piles. When the tumor
perceptibly fluctuates, it should be freely opened, the incision being
made along its entire length. This is best done with one of Liston's
knives, which should be thrust fairly through the swelling, entering at
the top and coming out at the lowest part, when with one movement of the
wrist the substance is divided. The operation thus performed is much
quicker, less painful, and more safe than it can possibly be rendered if
the tumor be punctured and slit up with repeated thrusts of an ordinary
lancet. I have frequently opened these sacs without the animal uttering
even a moan, and mercy is wisdom where surgery is employed. Dogs will not
bear torture, and soon become blindly infuriated if subjected to pain. The
animal is naturally so sensitive and excitable that the brutality or
suffering a horse can sustain, these animals would perish under. He,
therefore, who undertakes to treat the diseases of the canine race, if the
amiable qualities of the brute or his own feelings have no influence, will
in the success of his practice discover ample reason for the exercise of a
little humanity.

After the sac is opened a portion of lint should be used, to render the
part perfectly dry, which may then be lightly pencilled over with lunar
caustic, or moistened with some caustic solution. Fomentations of warm
water to keep the wound free from dirt, and with no other object, are all
that subsequently will be required.

Tumors of a solid nature also form about the anus, and are likewise
consequent upon neglected piles. These generally appear at the root of the
tail superior to the opening. They feel hard; are glistening; not very
tender; but highly vascular, and in some cases pulsate strongly. The dog
is generally loaded with fat, perhaps slightly mangy; nearly always old,
gross and weak. The quantity of blood that at various intervals is lost
from this tumor, which at length ulcerates and bleeds at the slightest
touch, or without any apparent cause, is often very great; but it does
not, save in the very latest stage, induce obvious emaciation. The health
is not good, of course, but to the casual observer the disease does not
appear to affect the system. The spirits under excitement are, to all
appearances, undiminished, and the appetite is in these cases ravenous.
If, however, the dog had to do work, the truth would