Blaine treats of these two as different diseases. Youatt speaks of them as the same disease situated on different parts. As they differ in their origin and in their effects, however closely they may be united, I hold Blaine's arrangement to be the soundest, and therefore to that I shall adhere. Water-dogs are said to be the most liable to attacks of these disorders; but I have not found such to be the case. At the mouth of the river Ex, near Exeter, Devonshire, for instance, there are numerous dogs kept for the purpose of recovering the wild fowl, by shooting of which their masters exist during winter. Here is rather a wide field for observation; but among the many water-dogs there to be found, the canker both internal and external is unknown; whereas there is scarcely a dog kept in town, especially of the larger size, that does not present a well-marked case of canker. The London dog is, for the most part, over-fed on stimulating diet (flesh), and kept chained up, generally in a filthy state. The country dog gets plenty of exercise, being allowed to sleep in the open air where he pleases outside of his master's cottage, and has but little food, and very seldom any flesh. I scarcely ever have a sporting dog sent to me, on the approach of autumn, suffering from what their masters are pleased to term "foul," but canker within and without the ear are found to be included in the so-called disorder. Often am I desired to look at both long-haired and short-haired dogs, and find both kinds victims to these diseases; but canker without the ear, or on the flap of the ear, I never see without canker within the ear being also present. Canker on the flap of the ear, it is true, becomes the worst in short-haired dogs, because these animals have this part by nature more exposed to injury. Long-haired dogs, on the other hand, have the disease within the organ worst, because the warmth of their coats serves to keep hot and to encourage the disorder.

Therefore, we find on inquiry that neither breed of dogs is more liable or more subject to be attacked by a particular kind of canker; though in each kind there exist circumstances calculated to give a direction to the disease when once established. Authors speak of rounding the ear for external canker; that is, of taking a portion of the border away, so as to leave the flap of the ear the less for the operation; and fox-hounds are said to have the ears rounded to escape the ravages of the disorder. There are said to have been poor dogs subjected to a second and third rounding; till at length the entire ear has been rounded away, and the wretched beast has been at last destroyed; because man first fed it till it was diseased, and then was too heartless properly to study the nature of the affection which tormented the animal.

Let those who may feel disposed to question this view of external canker, ask themselves what it is which induces the dog to shake his head violently at first? For the brute must shake the head violently and frequently, before canker in the flap can be established. The disease is, in the first instance, thus mechanically induced. It has its origin in the violent action of the beast; and that action is the very one which ensues upon the animal being attacked by internal canker.

The dog shakes his head long before the eye can detect anything within the ear. By that action, in nine cases out of ten, we are led to inspect the part. The action is symptomatic of the disorder, and it is the earliest sign displayed. In the dog whose coat does not favor internal canker, it may, however, establish the external form of the disease; which being once set up, may afterwards even act as a derivative to the original disorder.

External canker is nothing more in the first stage than a sore established around the edge of the ear, in consequence of the dog violently shaking the head, and thereby hitting the flap of the ear with force against the collar, chain, neck, &c. Shaking, however, does not cure the annoyance. An itching within the ear still remains; which the dog, doubtless imagining it to be caused by some foreign body, endeavors to shake out. In consequence of the continued action, the sore is beaten more and more, till an ulcer is established; the ulcer extends, involves the cartilage which gives substance to the flap of the ear, and thus is created a new source of increased itching. The ulcer enlarges, becomes offensive; and he who is consulted, instead of seeking for the cause, begins by attending to the effect. Various remedies are employed to cure the flap of the ear; and each and all of these failing, the poor animal is at length rounded, and as books and teachers advise, rounded high enough up.

All the diseased parts are carefully cut away; but the disease appears again, and the wretched beast is rounded a second time. On this occasion the rounding is carried still deeper, the operator being resolved the knife this time shall take effect. The dog has little ear left when the disease appears again; and the master saying he wants his dog for the field—to shoot over, and not to look at—the remaining portion of the ear is removed, hoping for better luck this time. However, chances are now against them; they have cut beyond mere skin and cartilage, into the seat of flesh in goodly substance. Spite of the brutal use of the red-hot iron, the hemorrhage is great, and ulcers appear before the cicatrix is perfected. The miserable animal having nothing more that can be cut away, is then killed, being said to be incurably affected.

This is a true history, and can be substantiated by reference to all the authors who have hitherto written about the dog. It does not, therefore, depend solely upon the testimony of the present writer; but sad is the reflection, that all the pain and suffering thus occasioned was unnecessary. Canker without the ear cannot be established unless canker within the ear, in the first instance, exists. It may not be violent; it may be present only in an incipient stage, and never get beyond it; but in this state it is sufficient to annoy the animal, and make it shake its head. Doing this, however, it does enough to mislead the practitioner, and cause the death of the unfortunate animal.

When a dog is brought with canker in the flap, the first thing I order is a calico cap, to keep the animal from shaking the ear. I then give the person accompanying the creature a box of the mercurial and camphor ointment, ordering it to be well applied to the external ear thrice daily, with the intention of cooling the part. I do nothing absolutely to heal the ulcers beyond keeping the part from being shaken; for I have not yet met with a case in which the cartilage has been positively involved, however much authors may write about such a texture having suffered. I direct my chief attention to the healing of the internal ear, from which I trace all the evil to have sprung. For this purpose I give a bottle of the canker-wash, described a little further on, ordering it to be applied thrice daily, and rest contented as to the result.

With regard to internal canker, how virulent was the disorder, and to what lengths it used to progress, may be imagined from reading Blaine and Youatt; both of whom speak with terror of its effects, advising the use of agents for the recommendation of which I cannot account, excepting by the supposition that they were selected under the influence of fear. Most of the solutions advised are painful; but how far they were effective we may conjecture from the descriptions they have left us of the disease. They tell us that, as the disorder proceeds, it eats into the brain; either causing the dog to be destroyed, or driving it phrenetic. The poor animal, we are informed, leans the head upon the fore-feet, the diseased ear being pressed downwards, and continually utters a low moan, which at length rises into one prolonged howl. Of all this I know nothing; but I remember at college, when going the rounds with the Professor Simonds, on a Sunday morning, hearing one of those huge howls which are uttered by large dogs when enduring excessive torture. On my asking whence the sound proceeded, I was coolly informed by my teacher that he supposed Sam (the head groom) had been pouring some dressing into the ear of a dog that had got canker. Of what the dressing that had occasioned such pain was composed, I never inquired; but we may judge of its power to destroy the bone, from the extent of the agony which it produced. No wonder, when such powerful agents were employed, the bone, the brain, or any other part, was affected.

Thank heaven! there is one good custom prevalent in this disease—dogs affected with it are brought to us early. Often, when the animal is only observed to be constantly shaking and scratching the ear, the proprietors bring the dog for us, to remove something from the interior of the organ. At other times, and with the most careless or unobservant masters, the dog is brought under our notice with a blackened discharge within the convolutions of the ear, and a slight smell, like decayed cheese, proceeding from it. A crackling sensation is then imparted to the fingers when the base of the ear below the flap is manipulated; the necessary pressure sometimes drawing forth an expression of pain. A worse case than this I have not encountered; though how common canker has been in my practice may be conjectured from my keeping a two-gallon stock-bottle of the wash in my surgery, and a label, for the bottles in which it is sent out, within my drawers. The mode of administering this wash is admirably described by Youatt, from whose pages I transcribe it:—

The warming of the fluid I find to be unnecessary; and there is something to be added to the above direction, when the wash I advise is employed. After one ear is done, let it be covered closely with the flap, and the other side of the head turned upward without releasing the dog. When both are finished, take a firm hold of the dog, and fling him away to any distance the strength you possess is capable of sending the animal; for the instant the dog is loose, it will begin shaking its head, and, as the canker-wash I employ contains lead, wherever a drop falls, a white mark or spot, as the liquid dries, will be left behind.