Chapter XIII: Part 13

The curlew is met with by travellers in most parts of Europe, from Iceland to the Mediterranean islands. In Britain their summer residence is upon the large heathy, boggy moors, where they breed. Their food consists of worms, flies, and insects, which they pick out of the soft mossy ground by the marshy pools, which are common in such places. In winter they depart to the sea-side, where they are seen in great numbers, and then live upon the worms, marine insects, and other fishy substances which they pick up on the beach and among the loose rocks and pools left by the retiring tide. The flesh of the curlew has been characterised by some as very good, and of a fine flavour—by others as directly the reverse; the truth is, that, while they are in health and season, and live on the moors, scarcely any bird can excel them in goodness; but when they have lived some time on the sea shore, they acquire a rank and fishy taste.—_Bewick._

CURRICLE, _s._ An open two-wheeled chaise, made to be drawn by two
horses abreast.

CURRY, _v._ To dress leather; to rub a horse with scratching
instruments, so as to clean his coat.

CURRYCOMB, _s._ An iron instrument used for currying horses.

CURVE, _s._ Anything bent, a flexure or crookedness.

CURVE, _v._ To bend, to crook, to inflect.

CURVET, _v._ To leap, to bound.

CUT, _v._ To penetrate with an edged instrument; to make its way by
dividing obstructions; to perform the operation of cutting for
the stone.

CUT, _s._ The action of a sharp or edged instrument; the impression
or separation of continuity made by an edge; a wound made by
cutting; a channel made by art; the act or practice of dividing
a pack of cards; form, shape.

CUTANEOUS, _a._ Relating to the skin.

CUTICLE, _s._ The first and outermost covering of the body, commonly
called the scarf-skin.

CUTTER, _s._ An agent or instrument that cuts any thing; the teeth
that cut the meat; a fore and aft-rigged vessel with one mast
and a running boltsprit.

Cutters have been always favourite vessels, from their excellent sailing qualities, and, consequently, are much employed as revenue cruisers, smugglers, privateers, and packets, and in any trade requiring much despatch. A cutter under one hundred tons is sufficiently handy and manageable, but when the size increases to that of the larger yachts and cruisers, a very strong crew is necessary, as the spars are immensely heavy, and a number of men requisite to set or shorten sail.

A single-masted vessel is objectionable, because in the event of springing a spar, she becomes perfectly helpless; hence large cutters are only used in short voyages, or as coasting cruisers. Their peculiar qualities of beating well to windward, and working on short tacks, adapt them for channel cruising; and in case of accident, they can always manage to reach some harbour or anchorage where they can repair the damage they may have sustained.

Some years back, large cutters were confined principally to the navy and revenue, but the Royal Yacht Club have not only exceeded them in size, but also in beauty and sailing. Some of the finest and fastest cutters in the world are the property of this celebrated and truly national club; and two of them, the _Alarm_ (Mr. Wild’s), and the _Arundel_ (the Duke of Norfolk’s), measure 193 and 188 tons.

The inconvenient size of a cutter’s boom and mainsail has caused the introduction very generally of a ketch rig; which, by the addition of a mizen, enables the boom to be dispensed with, and reduces the mainsail considerably. This rig, when the mizen stands well, is very elegant, and, if a vessel is short-handed, exceedingly handy.—_Vide_ YACHT.

CYGNET, _s._ A young swan.

Living on the banks of the Thames, I have often been pleased with seeing the care taken of the young swans by the parent birds. Where the stream is strong, the old one will sink herself sufficiently low to bring her back on a level with the water, when the cygnets will get upon it, and in this manner are conveyed to the other side of the river, or into stiller water. Each family of swans on the river has its own district; and if the limits of that district are encroached upon by other swans, a pursuit immediately takes place, and the intruders are driven away. Except in this instance, they appear to live in a state of the most perfect harmony. The male is very attentive to the female, assists in making the nest, and when a sudden rise of the river takes place, joins her with great assiduity in raising the nest sufficiently high to prevent the eggs being chilled by the action of the water, though sometimes its rise is so rapid, that the whole nest is washed away and destroyed.—_Jesse._

CYGNETICS, _s. obs._ The art of hunting.

CYST, _s._ A bag containing some morbid matter.

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DAB, _s._ A kind of small flat fish.

DAB-CHICK, _s._ A water-fowl.

DACE, _s._ A small river-fish, resembling a roach.

Dace or Dare, is gregarious, is a great breeder, very lively, and during summer is fond of frolicking near the surface. Its head is small, the irides of a pale yellow; the body long and slender; its scales are smaller than those of the roach, and is upon the whole a handsomer fish; the back is varied with dusky, and a cast of yellowish green; the sides and belly silvery, the ventral, anal, and caudal fins are sometimes of a pale red hue; the tail is very much forked. The dace is seldom above ten inches long, although in a list of fish sold in the London markets, with the greatest weight of each, communicated to Mr. Pennant, there is an account of one that weighed a pound and half, and according to Linnæus, it grows to a foot and half in length.

The haunts of Dace are deep water, near piles of bridges, where the stream is gentle, over gravelly, sandy, and clayey bottoms; deep holes that are shaded, water-lily leaves, and under the foam caused by an eddy; in the warm months they are to be found in shoals on the shallows near to streams; the dace spawn in March, are in season about three weeks after; they improve, and are very good, about Michaelmas, but are best in February, and are said in that month, when just taken, scotched, and broiled, to be more palatable than a fresh herring.

This is a fish affording great sport to the angler, indeed more pleasure than profit, for the flesh is insipid, and full of bones. The baits for dace are the red worm, brandling, gilt-tail, cow-dung, and earth-bob, and indeed any worm bred on trees or bushes, that is not too big for his mouth, and almost every kind of fly and caterpillar. Flesh flies upon the surface with the hook put into the back, between the wings, the line from the middle downwards of single hairs, and a trifle longer than the rod, which ought to be eighteen feet at least, and as light as possible; the flies can be kept in a phial; fix three very small hooks upon single hair links, not above four inches along the line, and in a summer’s evening, at the smoothest part of the end of a mill-stream, from seven or eight, so long as light continues, the dace will yield diversion. In the same manner, they will rise in the morning at the ant-fly, if used at the foot of a current or mill-stream, or on a scour before the sun comes on the water.

After rains, when the river is nearly level with its banks, use a caterpillar-fly, or a small red palmer and yellow-gentle (the yellower the better), run the hook through its skin, and draw it up to the tail of the fly, then whip on the surface, the dace will rise freely.

Another way to take this fish, from the middle of April until the beginning of October, is by artificial fly-fishing, with a long line.—_Daniel._

DALMATIAN, (_Canis Dalmatianus_), _s._ The coach-dog.

This dog has been erroneously called the Danish dog by some authors, and Buffon, and some other naturalists, imagine him to be the harrier of Bengal; but his native country is Dalmatia, a mountainous district of European Turkey. He has been domesticated in Italy for upwards of two centuries, and is the common harrier of that country.

The Dalmatian is also used as a pointer, to which his natural propensity more inclines him than to be a dog of the chase; he is said to be easily broken, and to be very staunch. He is handsome in shape, something betwixt the British foxhound and English pointer; his head is more acute than that of the latter, and his ears fully longer: his general colour is white, and his whole body and legs are covered with small irregular sized black or reddish brown spots. He is much smaller than the large Danish dog. A singular opinion prevailed at one time in this country, that this beautiful dog was rendered more handsome by having his ears cropped: this barbarous fancy is now quickly dying away.

I have never heard of the Dalmatian being trained to the sports of the field in Great Britain. His only use seems to be an elegant attendant upon a carriage, for which the symmetry of his form and beauty of his skin peculiarly fit him. A most erroneous notion has prevailed among some breeders, that neither this nor the great Danish dog has the sense of smell. They have been indiscriminately called the coach-dog.—_Brown._

DAM, _s._ The mother; a mole or bank to confine water.

DAMASCENE, _s._ _Vide_ BARREL.

DAPPLE, _a._ Marked with various colours; variegated.

DAPPLE, v. To streak, to vary.

DAR, or DART, _s._ A fish found in the Severn.

DARE, _s._ _Vide_ DACE.

DARE, _v._ _To Dare Larks_, to catch them by means of a
looking-glass.

DAW, _s._ A bird.

DEAL, _s._ The art or practice of dealing cards; fir-wood; the wood
of pines.

DEALER, _s._ A person who deals the cards; one who buys and sells
horses and dogs.

A gownsman of Cambridge, anxious to purchase a particular horse in the possession of Mr. Fordham, horse-dealer of that place, called upon him to make proposals, but disagreeing as to price, the collegian waited upon him several times to see if he could possibly bring him over to his terms.—In the interim, however, Mr. Fordham was taken dangerously ill and died. Next day, the gownsman, unacquainted with the circumstance of his death, called and asked a groom for his master.—“My master is dead, sir, (said one of the stable-boys) but he left word you should have the horse.”—_Sporting Anecdotes._

DECOCTION, _s._ The act of boiling any thing; a preparation made by
boiling in water.

The vessel in which _decoctions_ are made should be covered, and when the substance contains any aromatic or volatile principle, the boiling should be continued only a short time. Decoctions should be strained while hot, as some of them, Peruvian bark for example, deposit some active and useful matter in cooling. Decoctions soon ferment, and are spoiled by keeping; they should be used therefore soon after they are made.

* * * * *

A decoction of _marsh-mallows_, it is useful in fevers as a vehicle for nitre or other medicine; also as an emollient clyster and fomentation.

CAMOMILE.

Camomile flowers, dried 1 oz.
Caraway seeds, bruised 1½ oz.
Ginger, bruised 1½ oz.
Water 1 qt.

Boil for ten or fifteen minutes: a good stomachic drench.

OAK BARK.

Oak Bark, bruised 2 oz.
Water 1 qt.

Boil gently for ten minutes; a good vehicle for tonic medicine.

DECOCTION FOR FOMENTATION

Is made by boiling bay leaves, camomile flowers, wormwood, and southernwood in a sufficient quantity of water.

BARLEY.

Barley water is made by boiling pearl barley in water. This may be used in fevers, either alone, or as a vehicle for nitre or other medicine. Various other decoctions are occasionally employed, and sometimes preferred on account of their cheapness, to more efficacious, but more expensive medicines; yet it must be recollected that some vegetables, such as peppermint, pennyroyal, &c. have their useful properties dissipated by much boiling, and should therefore be only simmered for a few minutes, or only infused.—_White._

DECOY, _v._ To lure into a cage, to entrap.

The decoys now in use are formed by cutting pipes, or tapering ditches, widened and deepened as they approach the water; in various semicircular directions, through the swampy ground, into particular large pools, which are sheltered by surrounding trees or bushes, and situated commonly in the midst of the solitary marsh. At the narrow points of these ditches farthest from the pool, by which they are filled with water, the fowlers place their funnel nets: from these the ditch is covered by a continued arch of netting, supported by hoops, to the desired distance; and all along both sides, screens formed of reeds are set up so as to prevent the possibility of the birds seeing the decoyman; and as these birds feed during the night, all is ready prepared for this sport in the evening. The fowler, then placed on the leeward side, sometimes with the help of his well-trained dog, but always by that of his better trained tame decoy ducks, begins the business of destruction. The latter, directed by his well known whistle, or excited forward by the floating hempseed, which he strews occasionally upon the water, entice all the wild ducks after them under the netting; and as soon as this is observed, the man or his dog, as the fitness of opportunity may direct, is from the rear exposed to the view of the birds, by which they are so alarmed that they dare not offer to return, and are prevented by the nets from escaping upwards: they therefore press forward in the utmost confusion to the end of the pipe, into the purse nets there prepared to receive them, while their treacherous guides remain behind in conscious security. The season allowed by act of parliament for catching these birds in this way, continues only from the latter end of October till February.

Particular spots or decoys, in the fen countries, are let to the fowlers at a rent of from five to thirty pounds per annum; and Pennant instances a season in which thirty-one thousand two hundred ducks, including teals and widgeons, were sold in London only, from ten of these decoys near Wainfleet, in Lincolnshire. Formerly, according to Willoughby, the ducks, while in moult and unable to fly, were driven by men in boats, furnished with long poles, with which they splashed the water, between long nets, stretched vertically across the pools, in the shape of two sides of a triangle, into lesser nets placed at the point, and in this way, he says four thousand were taken at one driving in Deeping-fen; and Latham has quoted an instance of two thousand six hundred and forty-six being taken in two days, near Spalding in Lincolnshire; but this manner of catching them while in moult is now prohibited.

DECOY, _s._ Allurement to mischief.

DECOY-DUCK, _s._ A duck that lures others.

DEER, _s._ That class of animals which is hunted for venison. _Vide_
FALLOW, RED, and ROE DEER.

DEGENERATE, _v._ To fall from its kind, to grow wild or base.

DEMULCENT, _a._ Softening, mollifying.

DEMULCENTS, _s._ Medicines of an oily and mucilaginous nature, as
lint and quince seed, gum, &c.

DEN, _s._ A cavern or hollow running horizontally; the cave of a
wild beast.

DEOBSTRUENT, _s._ A medicine that has the power to resolve
viscidities.

DESTROY, _v._ To kill; to put an end to.

It is not unfrequently a subject of inquiry, how it may be possible to destroy a dog with least pain to himself, and least shock to the feelings of his owner. Although shooting and hanging are not, in themselves, painful deaths, yet the violence necessarily committed is revolting to one’s feelings. Whenever, therefore, cases arise (and many such do occur) where it would be infinitely more humane to destroy an animal than to prolong a miserable existence, and when the more usual modes are objected to on account of the violence and force necessary, either of these essential oils, _cherry laurel, and bitter almond_, dropped on the tongue, or a very small ball made from the extract, will extinguish life almost instantaneously, and without pain.—_Blaine._

DETERGE, _v._ To cleanse a sore. _Vide_ CAUSTICS.

DETONATION, _s._ A noise somewhat more forcible than the ordinary
crackling of salts in calcination, as in the going off of the
pulvis or aurum fulminans. _Vide_ PERCUSSION.

DETONATING POWDER, _s._ A chemical composition by which
percussion-guns are discharged.

One of the recipes for making detonating powder is:—

One ounce of oxymuriate of potash.
One eighth of an ounce of superfine charcoal.
One sixteenth of an ounce of sulphur.

Mixed with gum-arabic water, and then dried. It should be mixed up in wood, for fear of accident.

Another, and, I am told, a far better proportion, is:—

Five of oxymuriate, Two of sulphur; and
One of charcoal.

I merely give the recipe, in case a sportsman should be in a place where he cannot buy the composition, as I presume, that no one in his senses would run the risk of being blown up, in order to make, perhaps indifferently, what he could so cheaply purchase in perfection.—_Hawker._

We entirely agree with the colonel—and caution insurance companies against gentlemen who would attempt a home manufacture.

DIABETES, _s._ A morbid copiousness of urine.

_Diabetes_ consists in an excessive discharge of urine, attended with great thirst, and sometimes with a gradual loss of flesh and great debility. The urine is sometimes limpid and transparent like water; at others high coloured, and of a very offensive smell. In slight or recent cases of diabetes a cure may generally be accomplished by the following ball, provided the cause is removed, which is generally new hay, new oats, musty hay or oats, or some other unwholesome provender. But in the confirmed diabetes, when the urine has become stinking and high coloured, the cure is more difficult. Rest, or voluntary exercise only, and a light nutritious diet, are necessary.

BALL FOR DIABETES.

No. 1. Opium from ½ to 1 dr.
Ginger 2 dr.
Gentian-root powder 3 or 4 dr.
Oil of caraways 20 or 30 drops.
Syrup enough to form the ball.

To be given morning and evening for two or three days, and should the disease then continue, give the following:—

No. 2. Sulphate of copper 1 dr.
Ginger 1 dr.

Linseed powder and syrup enough to form the ball.

To be given every morning and evening until the disease is cured.

Sulphate of copper has been found an excellent tonic in horses. I have also found the following a good tonic ball:—

No. 3. Sulphate of iron 2 to 3 or 4 dr.
Powdered ginger 1 dr.
Powdered Gentian 3 to 4 dr.
Treacle enough to form the ball.

I have seen an increased discharge of urine brought on in draught horses by working them beyond their strength; this has been attended with great weakness, especially of the hind parts, and loss of appetite. I have found great benefit in such cases from turning the horse to grass, and letting him remain there for some time, giving him a little _good_ hay, or some oats, when it appears necessary.—_White._

DIACHYLON, _s._ An ingredient in sticking plaster.

Diachylon (litharge or lead plaster) is made by boiling olive oil nine parts, litharge five parts, water two parts, over a slow fire, and constantly stirring, until the oil and the litharge unite, and acquire the consistence of plaster. The water must be replaced as it evaporates. Diachylon is an ingredient in sticking plaster and charges, and is useful when spread on leather, for defending a tender part from pressure.

DIAPENTE, _s._ A compound powder, tonic and stomachic.

DIAPHORETIC, _a._ Sudorific, promoting perspiration. The most useful
sudorifics in veterinary practice, are hot stimulants, combined
with antimony and opium.

DICE, _s._ The plural of die.

DICE-BOX, _s._ The box from which the dice are thrown.

DICER, _s._ A player at dice, a gamester.

DIDAPPER, _s._ A small bird of the diver kind.

DIE, _v._ To tinge, to colour.

DIE, _s._ Colour, tincture, stain, hue acquired; a small cube,
marked on its faces with numbers from one to six, which
gamesters throw in play; hazard, chance; any cubic body.

_Recipes for Dyeing Hair._—(Dark water colour.)—Take a pint of strong ale, half a pound of soot, a small quantity of the juice of walnut leaves, and an equal quantity of alum powdered fine; mix them well, and boil them in a pipkin half an hour; when the mixture is cold, put in the hair, and let it remain ten or twelve hours.

* * * * *

Some boil a quarter of a pound of soot in a pint of strong alum water, with a little juice of walnut leaves, for half an hour, and steep the hair in it when nearly cold.

* * * * *

For a _brown_, take some powdered alum, boil it well until dissolved; then add a pound of walnut-tree bark, from the branches when the sap is up, or the buds or green nuts; boil it in an hour, and let it stand. When after skimming it for ten minutes, put in the gut or hair for about a minute (stirring it round), or until you like the colour. If it continues too long, it will become quite dark and injure the hair. The lighter it is tinged with this colour, the better. Salt and ale will also give hair a brownish cast that is steeped in it.

* * * * *

For a blueish water colour, proceed as above; only add logwood instead of the walnut, and be careful not to colour it too much.

* * * * *

_Yellow._—The inner bark of a crab-tree boiled in water with some alum, makes a fine yellow, which is excellent when the weeds rot, the line appearing of the same hue. Another dye may be obtained from two quarts of small ale, and three handfuls of walnut leaves bruised therein; the hair to remain in it until tinged to your wish.

* * * * *

_Tawny_ is prepared from lime and water mixed together, by steeping hair in it for four or five hours, and then soaking it a whole day in a tan pit.

* * * * *

_Russet._—Take a pint of strong lye, half a pound of soot, some juice of walnut leaves, and a quart of alum water; put them together into a pan, boil them well, and when the liquor is cold, steep the hair until it acquires the colour you desire.

* * * * *

_General Remark._—The hair to be dyed, should always be the best white: the seasons for using dyed hair, are, September and two following months; the yellow, russet all the winter, and until the end of April, as well in rivers as in lakes; for the same periods, the brown and tawny should be used in blackish, heathy, and moorish waters.

* * * * *

_Dyeing or Staining Fishing-rods._—Red is done by boiling the wood in water and alum; then taking it out, adding Brazil to the liquor, and giving the wood another boil in it. Black, by brushing it over with logwood, boiled in vinegar, then washing it over with a decoction of galls and copperas, till it be of the hue required. Any other colour may be given by squeezing out the moisture of horse-dung through a sieve, mixing it with dissolved roch alum and gum arabic, and to the whole adding green, blue, or any other colour designed. After standing two or three days, pear-tree or other wood cut to the thickness of half-a-crown is put into the liquor boiling hot, and suffered to remain till it be sufficiently coloured.

_In Dyeing Bone, Horn, or Ivory._—Black is performed by steeping brass in aqua fortis till it be turned green; with this, the bone, &c., &c., is to be washed once or twice, and then put in a warm decoction of logwood and water. Green, is verdigris, sal ammoniac, and white wine vinegar; keeping the material therein till sufficiently green. Red is began by boiling it in alum water, and finished by a decoction in a liquor compounded of quicklime steeped in rain-water strained. To every pint an ounce of Brazil wood is added: the bone to be boiled therein till sufficiently red.—_Ancient Recipes._

DIET, _s._ Food, victuals; food regulated by the rules of medicine.

DIG, _v._ To work with a spade.

_Digging Foxes._—With respect to the digging of foxes which hounds run to ground, if the hole be straight and earth slight, follow it, and in following the hole, by keeping below its level, it cannot be lost.—_Beckford._

DIGEST, _v._ To generate matter as a wound.

DIGESTION, _s._ The act of concocting food; the preparation of
matter by a chemical heat; the act of disposing a wound to
generate matter.

DIGESTIVES, _s._ Medicines which promote suppuration in ulcers, and
cause them to discharge a white healthy matter.

DIGESTIVE OINTMENT.

1. Hog’s lard and strained turpentine,
of each 4 oz.
Verdigris 1 oz.—Mix.

2. Hog’s lard and Venice turpentine,
of each 4 oz.
Sulphate of copper (blue vitriol),
finely powdered 1 oz.—Mix.

3. Ointment of yellow rosin 4 oz.
Oil of turpentine 1 oz.
Nitric oxide of mercury (red
precipitate), finely powdered 1 oz.—Mix.

4. Ointment of nitrated quicksilver 4 oz.
Oil of turpentine 1 oz.—Mix.
—_White._

DISEASE, _s._ Distemper, malady, sickness.

DISLOCATE, _v._ To put out of the proper place; to put out of joint;
to displace a bone.

DISMOUNT, _v._ To throw any one from on horseback; to alight from a
horse.

DISPENSATORY, _s._ A book in which the composition of medicines is
described and directed; a pharmacopœia.

DISTEMPER, _s._ A disease, a malady.

_The Distemper._—No disorder is more general or so destructive as that known by the name of the distemper; it is the most fatal (the plague only excepted) that any animal is subject to.

The symptoms of the distemper are not invariably similar, although there are predominant ones which always occur. It generally comes on with a dry husky cough, dullness and want of appetite, a running from the nose and eyes, and loss of flesh. As the disease advances, the dog appears much emaciated, and grows excessively weak, particularly in the loins and hinder extremities; usually there is convulsive twitchings of different parts, most commonly of the head, attended with dimness of sight; when the disease proceeds, and takes on its more virulent form, then the twitches degenerate into continued convulsive fits, the dog foams at the mouth, runs round, and expresses great pain, has a constant disposition to dung, with obstinate costiveness or incessant purging. There is likewise great irritability of the stomach, every thing being thrown up immediately it is taken in, and the animal dies, generally, in one of the spasmodic fits. From this state of the disease hardly any dog recovers, unless from the powerful effect of this gentleman’s medicine, and even then he admits its success doubtful, although he insists, with the medicine early given, the disease will never arrive to this height; but, with every deference to the efficacy of the above medicine, the compiler has known Dr. James’s powder cure the most inveterate stages of the disorder: the method of administering it will be hereafter directed. In every part of this disease a want of nervous energy, and a particular paralytic affection of the nerves, is apparent, and, in some instances, remains long after every other symptom has ceased, and in many respects is not unlike the palsy of the human frame.

The distemper, when existing in its worst form, is very often mistaken for canine madness; but a close attention to the following points will with certainty show the difference. Puppies are not so liable to madness as full-grown dogs; it is but seldom the animal will drink freely in the distemper, never in madness—yet they will now and then try to drink; the hydrophobia arrives likewise at its height, in general, sooner than the distemper, although the latter is sometimes equally sudden in its attack, and rapid in its progress. In madness, all recollection of places or persons is lost by the affected animal; his home will be left, and he will bite the hand that feeds him, indiscriminately with any other. In the distemper, there is no loss of reason but in the attack and actual continuance of the convulsion fits; the animal does not attempt to bite or rove abroad, and, on recovery from the fit, resumes his faculties. If, therefore, a young dog will drink when the immediate effect of the spasmodic restriction is removed, or, without evident fear, will bear the sight of water, but more particularly when his weakness is excessive, and strongly apparent between the intervals of the fits, it may be safely concluded that it is the distemper, and not madness. These circumstances, continues Mr. Blaine, should be carefully remarked, as they are unerring, and may save many a valuable animal from destruction, and many a timid mind from the most dreadful apprehension.

* * * * *

For the distemper, so soon as the symptoms appear, give an ounce of castor oil, and after its operation has ceased, give the following powder, mixed up with butter, into a bolus, every two hours, keeping the dog warm, and supplying him frequently with warm milk or water-gruel. Should the medicine occasion sickness or purging, the quantity and frequency of the doses are to be abated.

Crocus metallorum finely levigated, and white antimonial powder, each six grains, and diaphoretic calx of antimony, ten grains for one dose.

It is necessary to remark, that the above dose is sufficient for a pointer or fox-hound, of six or eight months old, and that the quantity is to be varied according to the size and age of the dog.

Rhubarb and jalap mixed, as much as will lie on a shilling, is an excellent common physic. For dogs, foul within, five grains of tartar emetic, given in a piece of hog’s lard. For a surfeit, one ounce of sulphur, half an ounce of antimony, mixed together; a small ball in butter, to be given to the dog, and the sore place well rubbed with a mixture of white hellebore-root powdered, and hog’s lard; the dog to be kept from water if he licks the ointment.

* * * * *

Doctor Darwin has given the following opinion upon the disorder, and how to counteract its malignity.

“In dogs, the catarrh is generally joined with symptoms of debility early in the disease; the animals should be permitted to go about in the open air, the use of being as much as may be in the air, is evident, because all the air which they breathe, passes twice over the putrid sloughs of the mortified parts of the membrane, which lines the nostrils, and the maxillary and frontal cavities; that is, during inspiration and expiration, and must, therefore, be loaded with contagious particles.

“Fresh new milk, and fresh broth, should be given them very frequently, and they should be suffered to go amongst the grass, which they sometimes eat for the purpose of an emetic; and, if possible, they should have access to a running stream of water, as the contagious mucus of the nostrils generally drops into the water they attempt to drink.

“Bits of raw flesh, if the dog will eat them, are preferred to cooked meat, and from five to ten drops of tincture of opium (according to the size of the dog), may be given with advantage when symptoms of debility are evident, every six hours. If sloughs can be seen in the nostrils, they should be moistened twice a day with a solution of sugar of lead, or of alum, by means of a sponge fixed on a bit of whalebone, or by a syringe. The lotion may be made by dissolving half an ounce of sugar of lead, or of alum, in a pint of water.”

* * * * *

The following remedies have their advocates, and, consequently, in some cases of the disorder have been proved essential in its cure.

One grain and a half of calomel, and five grains of rhubarb, to be repeated every other day.

Four grains of Turbith’s mineral, and one grain of emetic tartar; first bleeding the dog.

A tea-spoonful of jalap, half the quantity of grated ginger, a table-spoonful of syrup of buckthorn, made into a ball, or given liquid in warm water. No milk, but water-gruel to drink, and the dog must be kept very warm.

Gamboge, dragon’s-blood, jesuit’s-bark, of each half an ounce, made into pills the size of a hazel nut. To a full grown dog, one pill to be given every morning until cured; to a whelp, three times a week, the dogs to have liberty to run out.

* * * * *

Some rely entirely on purgatives: others bleeding and physicking; others on emetics; some put tar upon the nose, others a pitch plaster, and some cauterize the nasals; some inject vinegar into the dose, others hellebore, and others a solution of camphor; some cut off the tail, others the ears; some give tobacco and olive oil, others the golden sulphuret of antimony; the keeper gives the curpeth’s mineral: the more scientific of these gentry will knock down the disease, and the dog too with arsenic. The gentleman will give compound tincture of benzoin, the farmer common salt; the medical man sulphuric ether, or emetics and sulphur, or emetics and jalap, or emetics and scammony.—_Youatt_—_Daniel_—_Darwin._

DITCH, _s._ A trench cut in the ground usually between two fields;
any long narrow receptacle of water.

DIVER, _s._ A bird; one that sinks voluntarily under water; one that
goes under water to search for any thing.

DIURETICS, _s._ Medicines that excite and increase urinal discharge.

DIURETIC POWDER.

Powdered rosin and nitre, of each, 4 drs.

Mix for one dose, and let it be repeated daily, or twice a day, if necessary, until a sufficient effect is produced.

DIURETIC BALL.

Hard soap and common turpentine, of each, 4 drachms.

Powdered caraway seeds enough to form the ball. Mix for one dose.

CORDIAL DIURETIC BALL.

Hard soap and common turpentine,
of each 4 dr.
Ginger 1 dr.
Opium ½ dr.

Powdered caraways enough to form the ball. Diuretics should not be kept to become hard, as they often are, but be given in rather a soft state, and recently made. Diuretics should never be so given as to operate while a horse is in work, as he may thereby be prevented from staling when he has occasion; from neglecting this precaution, and from their frequent and immoderate use, arise those mischievous effects before alluded to. The kidneys are often materially injured by them as well as the bladder.—_White._

DIURETIC, _a._ Having the power to provoke urine.

DOCK, _s._ The stump of the tail which remains after docking; a
place where water is let in or out at pleasure, where ships are
built or laid up.

DOCK, _v._ To cut off a tail; to cut any thing short.

DOG, _s._ A domestic animal remarkably various in its species.

In ancient manuscripts we find the following names for the dogs employed in the sports of the field; that is to say, raches, or hounds; running hounds or harriers, to chase hares; and greyhounds, which were favourite dogs with the sportsmen; alauntes, or bull-dogs, these were chiefly used for hunting the boar; the mastiff is also said to be “a good hounde” for hunting the wild boar; the spaniel was of use in hawking; “hys crafte,” says the author, “is for the perdrich or partridge, and the quaile; and, when taught to couch, he is very serviceable to the fowlers, who take those birds with nets.” There must, I presume, have been a vast number of other kinds of dogs known in England at this period; these, however, are all that the early writers, upon the subject of hunting, have thought proper to enumerate. In the sixteenth century the list is enlarged; besides those already named, we find bastards and mongrels, lemors, kenets, terrours, butcher’s hounds, dunghill dogs, trindel-tail’d dogs, “pryckeared” curs, and ladies’ small puppies.

There formerly existed a very cruel law, which subjected all the dogs that were found in the royal chases and forests, excepting such as belonged to privileged persons, to be maimed by having the left claw cut from their feet, unless they were redeemed by a fine; this law probably originated with the Normans, and certainly was in force in the reign of Henry I.

* * * * *

Linnæus, in his System of Nature, has placed the dog as the second genus of the third order of mammiferous animals, or those which suckle their young by means of lactiferous teats.

The characters of the third order, FERÆ, are as follows:—The fore teeth are conic, usually six in each jaw; the _tusks_ are longer, the _grinders_ have conic projections; the feet have claws, which are usually subulate, or awl-shaped; they feed on carcasses, and prey on other animals.

The characters of the genus _Canis_, or Dog, are, six cutting teeth in the upper jaw; those at the sides longer than the intermediate ones, which are lobated. In the under jaw there are also six cutting teeth, the lateral ones lobated; there are four canine teeth, one on each side, both above and below, and from six to seven grinders. The specific characters of the _Canis Familiaris_, or common dog, are, the head is carinated, or keel-shaped on the crown, the lower lip is hid by the upper, indentated and naked at the sides; the tongue is smooth; on the upper lip are five or six rows of whiskers; the nostrils are turned outwards into a crescent-shaped furrow; the upper margin of the ears is reflected and posteriorly doubled; the anterior margin is three-lobed, and there are seven or eight hairy warts on the face. There are ten teats, four of them pectoral, and six abdominal; the feet are subpalmated, with claws on the toes, which are long, a little curved, and not retractile within the toes, as is the case with those of the cat.

He has, besides the above anatomical distinctions, other general characters which are peculiar to his tribe.

He delights in associating with man, feeds on flesh, carcasses, and farinaceous vegetables, digests bones, is vomited by eating grass, which he does instinctively; drinks by lapping, runs obliquely, resting upon his toes; perspires by his tongue, which he lolls out when warm; when lying down turns often round; hears in his sleep, and dreams frequently. Of all animals the most faithful; fawns at the appearance of his master, and defends him; runs before him in a journey, and if the road divides, looks back and generally waits to see which he takes: will turn to the branch to which he is directed from a distance; his sense of smell is exquisite.

Cuvier, in his Animal Kingdom, gives the following generic character of the dog, which differs but little from that of Linnæus, except in his new and more distinct terminology.

The upper cheek teeth are six on each side, the three first are sharp, trenchant, called by Cuvier _false molars_; the following, a carnivorous tooth, has two cutting lobes, beyond which, on each side, are two flat teeth. In the lower jaw there are seven; four false molars, a carnivorous tooth, has two cutting lobes, beyond which, on each side, are two flat teeth, and two tuberculous teeth behind it. The length of the jaws and muzzle vary greatly; the tongue is smooth; the ears are extremely variable; there are five toes on the fore-feet, and four on those behind, furnished with longish nails, obtuse, and not retractile, and the mammæ are ventral; the eye-pupils are circular and diurnal, or formed for seeing by day.

* * * * *

_Dogs exempt from Duty._—Whelps which are not six months old at the time of returning your list for taxes. Dogs belonging to any of the royal family, who are exempt from all duties on sporting. Poor persons, who are not assessed for dwelling-houses, may keep one dog, provided it be not a sporting dog.

SYNOPSIS OF BRITISH DOGS.

│Terrier.
│Hounds │Harrier.
│which hunt │Foxhound.
│Dogs │in packs. │Bloodhound.
│of │
│Chase. │ │Irish Greyhounds.
│ │Hounds │Gazehound.
│ │which hunt │Greyhound.
1. The most │ │singly. │Leviner, or Lyemmer.
general kinds. │ │Tumbler.
│
│ │ │Spaniel, or Springer.
│Fowlers. │ │Setter.
│ │ │Large Water Spaniel, or Finder.
│
│Lap Dogs.│ │Spanish Gentle, or Comforter.

│ │Shepherd’s Dog.
2. Farm Dogs. │Watch │ │Mastiff.
│Dogs. │ │Bull Dog.

│ │Wrappe.
3. Mongrels. │Mongrels.│ │Turnspit.
│ │Dancer.

Although it is said by naturalists that there are only thirty-seven varieties of the dog, yet the fact is, that almost every nation on earth intertropical, temperate, and polar, has its own peculiar variety.—_Brown._—_Daniel._—_Cuvier._

DORMOUSE, _s._ A small animal which passes a part of the winter in
sleep.

DOSSIL, _s._ A pledget, a nodule or lump of lint.

DOTTEREL, (_Charadrius morinellus_, LINN.; _Le Guignard_, BUFF.)
_s._ The name of a bird.

The length of this bird is about nine inches. Its bill is black; eyes dark, large, and full; its forehead is mottled with brown and white top of the head black; over each eye an arched line of white passes to the hinder part of the neck; the cheeks and throat are white; the back and wings are of a light brown, inclining to olive, each feather margined with pale rust colour; the quills are brown. The forepart of the neck is surrounded by a broad band of a light olive colour, bordered on the under side with white. The breast is of a pale dull orange; middle of the belly black; the rest of the belly, thighs, and vent, are of a reddish white; the tail is of an olive brown, black near the end, and tipped with white, the outer feathers are margined with white. The legs are of a dark olive colour.

The dotterel is common in various parts of Great Britain, though in some places it is scarcely known. They are supposed to breed in the mountains of Cumberland and Westmoreland, where they are sometimes seen in the month of May, during the breeding season; they likewise breed on several of the Highland hills. They are very common in Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, and Derbyshire, appearing in small flocks on the heaths and moors of those counties during the months of May and June, and are then very fat, and much esteemed for the table. It is said that the dotterel is so very stupid a bird, as to be taken with the most simple artifice, and that it was formerly the custom to decoy them into the net by stretching out a leg or an arm which caught the attention of the birds, so that they returned it by a similar motion of a leg or a wing, and were not aware till the net dropped and covered the whole flock. At present the more sure method of the gun has superseded this artifice.

* * * * *

_The Ring Dotterell._—(_Ring Plover_, or _Sea Lark_; _Charadrius Heaticula_, LINN.; _Le Petit Pluvier à collier_, BUFF.)—The length is rather more than seven inches. The bill is of an orange colour, tipped with black; the eyes are dark hazel; a black hue passes from the bill, underneath each eye, and spreads over the cheeks; above this a line of white extends across the forehead to the eyes; this is bounded above by a black fillet across the head; a gorget of black encircles the neck, very broad on the forepart, but growing narrow behind, above which, to the chin, is white; the top of the head is of a light brown ash-colour, as are also the back, scapulars, and coverts; the greater coverts are tipped with white; the breast and the under parts are white; the quills are dusky, with an oval white spot about the middle of each feather, which forms, when the wings are closed, a stroke of white down each; the tail is of a dark brown, tipped with white, the two outer feathers almost white; the legs are of an orange colour; claws black. In the female the white on the forehead is much less; there is more white on the wings, and the plumage inclines more to ash-colour.

These birds are common in all the northern counties; they migrate into Britain in the spring, and depart in autumn: they frequent the sea-shores during summer, and run nimbly along the sands, sometimes taking short flights, accompanied with loud twitterings, then alight and run again; if disturbed, they fly right off. They are said to make no nest: the female lays four eggs, of a pale ash-colour, spotted with black, which she deposits on the ground.—_Bewick._

DOUGHADOO, _s._ A colour used by fly-tiers on the Shannon.

DRAG, _v._ To pull along the ground by main force; an artificial
mode of hunting by substituting some strong smell in place of
the animal scent.

DRAG, _s._ An instrument with hooks to catch hold of things under
water; a kind of car drawn by the hand.

DRAG-NET, _s._ A net which is drawn along the bottom of the water.

In making a drag-net, the size of the mesh should never be less than one inch and a quarter; there should be an extent of three times in length, and twice in depth of the plain net, before it is hung upon the cork and lead lines (that is, if the drag is meant to be twenty yards long, and twelve feet deep, there must be sixty yards of net in length, and twenty-four feet in depth for a sheet-drag; if made with a cod, it must be let in with great care as to the widenings, so that in fishing, it keeps a proper open centre). As drag-nets are usually hung, any one who is in the water when they are used, will feel, when the lines are hauled, the lead-line above the calf of his leg, and frequently above his knee, and that continued to very near the bosom of the net. There is no occasion to remark upon the chance of success such an implement affords.

Always use two, if not three flews with the drag: one or two flews can then be kept forward for the drag to force to, and in fishing every hole, back the drag with a flew; that is, after the drag approaches close to the first flew, of course that will be pulled on one or other side of the river. If any fish are in it they should be taken out, and so soon as the drag-net has passed, let the flew be pulled back into its former station; the fish that are disturbed by the drag (from the different manner in which their lead-lines have been shown to keep a regular sweep at the bottom), soon perceive an opening to escape beneath it, and in striking to their old harbours, run head-long into the back flew; the discolouring of the water, from the trampling of the people in, together with the motion of some part of the drag upon the mud, all contribute to the success of this expedient, by which the best fish will always be captured.

A drag-net should always be used up the stream; however low the water in a river may be drained for the convenience of those fishing in it, there will still be a current sufficient to preserve the water clear enough for stumps and hangs of various descriptions to be avoided, besides the drain of the water keeps the meshes of the net extended, and enables it to fish with every advantage; on the contrary, when drawing down the stream, the mudding of the water progressively prevents the discovery of stubs, &c., that would injure the net, and aid the escape of the fish, and, moreover, drives the net into folds, which the leaves of the weeds turning the same way, not a little assist.—_Daniel._

DRAKE, _s._ The male of the duck.

DRAM, _s._ In weight the eighth part of an ounce; a small quantity;
such a quantity of distilled spirits as is usually drank at
once; spirits, distilled liquors.

DRASTICS, _s._ Violent purgatives.

DRAUGHT, _s._ The act of drinking; a quantity of liquor drank at
once; the act of drawing or pulling carriages; the act of
sweeping with a net; the quantity of fishes taken by once
drawing the net; the depth which a vessel draws, or sinks into
the water; a bill drawn for the payment of money.

_Draughting._—This fishing is confined to the estuary, where the river meets the sea. Here, according to naturalists, the salmon undergo a probationary course, before they exchange the salt for the fresh water, as a sudden change from either would be fatal to the fish, and a temporary sojourn in water of an intermediate quality (brackish), is supposed to be requisite, before they can leave either the ocean or the river.

The draughting is carried on at the last quarter of the ebb, and during the first of the flood; five or six boats, with as many men in each, are necessary. When the salmon are seen, the nearest boat starts off, leaving a man on shore, with a rope attached to one extremity of the net, which is rapidly thrown over, as the boat makes an extensive circle round the place where the fish are supposed to lie. Returning to the shore, the curve of the net is gradually decreased. Stones are flung in at each extremity, to prevent the salmon from escaping; the net reaches the bank, the semicircle is complete, and all within effectually secured. The fish are then carefully landed, and at a single draught five hundred salmon have been taken. This is, however, an event of rare occurrence, and unless the net were powerfully strong, and the fishers skilful, a fracture, and consequently a general escape, would be inevitable.

* * * * *

It is extraordinary how much the flavour and quality of the salmon depends on circumstances apparently of trifling moment. A single day in the river will injure, and a flood spoil their condition; and a difference between a fish taken in the nets, and one killed with a rod, will be easily perceptible.—_Wild Sports._

DRAYHORSE, _s._ A horse which draws a dray.

DREDGE, _s._ A kind of net; the iron and bag net with which oysters,
scallops, &c., are lifted.

DREDGE, _v._ To gather with a dredge.

DREDGER, _s._ One who fishes with a dredge.

DRENCH, _v._ To saturate with drink or moisture; to physic by
violence.

Though an inconvenient method of giving medicine to horses, it is preferable, on some occasions, on account of the medicine acting in much _less_ time than in a solid form. In flatulent colic, or gripes, where the symptoms are alarming, a proper drench will relieve the animal, while a ball would be useless.

The best instrument for giving drenches is the horn of an ox; the opening being cut obliquely, in the form of a spout. Bottles are sometimes used, on an emergency, to give drenches; but they are attended with danger, and should be handled cautiously. In giving a drench, the horse’s tongue should be held with the left hand; and when the head is sufficiently elevated, the medicine is to be carefully poured into the throat, immediately letting go the tongue, while the head is kept up until the drench is swallowed. Drenches are very seldom given with dexterity, and a great part of the medicine is sometimes wasted. Every groom should learn to give them with facility, and always keep a proper instrument in the stable. In giving a drench, the head should not be kept so high as it generally is, nor should the throat be pressed or rubbed, as it often is, with a view to make the horse swallow, as it is apt to excite coughing. In severe colds or strangles, there is often some degree of soreness or inflammation of the throat, by which swallowing is rendered difficult and painful. In such cases no attempt should be made to give either a drench or a ball, as the complaint would be increased by it; and if at any time a horse happens to cough or appear distressed, while taking a drench, his head should be immediately let down. Hot stimulating medicines, or such as are very nauseous, are better given in the form of balls than drenches. Drenches should always be given with as much gentleness as possible; the horn may generally be introduced with ease, merely by pressing down the tongue with the fingers of the left hand, instead of dragging it out, as is commonly done. A small quantity only of the liquid should be given at once; about six or eight ounces, or even less, when tincture of opium or any powerful medicine is given; and it is of importance to be accurate in the dose, and not to give either more or less than a certain quantity.