p. 93 | Health and Temperance

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Feb 10, 1887

Health and Temperance.

HOW ANIMALS PRACTICE MEDICINE.

ANIMALS get rid of their parasites by using dust, mud, clay, etc. Those suffering from fever restrict their diet, keep quiet, seek dark, airy places, drink water and sometimes plunge into it. When a dog has lost its appetite, it eats that species of grass known as "dog's grass," which acts as an emetic and a purgative. Cats also eat grass. Sheep and cows, when ill, seek out certain herbs. An animal suffering from chronic rheumatism always, as much as possible, keeps in the sun. The warrior ants have regularly organized ambulances. Latreille cut the antennae of the ant, and other ants came and covered the wounded part with a transparent fluid secreted from their mouths. If a chimpanzee is wounded, it stops the bleeding by placing its hand over the wound, or dressing it with leaves and grass. When an animal has a wounded leg or arm hanging on, it completes the amputation by means of its teeth.

A dog, which had been stung in the muzzle by a viper, was observed to plunge his head repeatedly for several days into running water. This animal eventually recovered. A sporting dog was run over by a carriage. During three weeks in winter it remained lying in a brook, where its food was taken to it. This animal recovered. A terrier hurt its right eye. It remained under a counter, avoiding light and heat, although it habitually kept close to the fire. It adopted a general treatment, rest, and abstinence from food. The local treatment consisted in licking the upper surface of the paw, which it applied to the wounded eye; again licking the paw when it became dry. Animals suffering from traumatic fever, treat themselves by the continued application of cold water, which M. Delaunay considers to be more certain than any of the other methods. In view of these interesting facts we are, he thinks, forced to admit that hygiene and therapeutics as practiced by animals may, in the interest of psychology, be studied with advantage.

Many physicians have been keen observers of animals, their diseases, and the methods adopted by them in their instinct to cure themselves, and have availed themselves of the knowledge so brought under their observation in their practices.—N. O. Picayune.