At about the eighth month the dose for the toys can be increased to about one-half a teaspoonful; and that will be quite enough for them thereafter, even when matured.

As for the small breeds, they will bear an increase of about one-fourth every third month after the fourth; that is, starting at the fourth month with one-half a teaspoonful, about the seventh month the appropriate dose will be three-fourths of a teaspoonful; the tenth month an even teaspoonful; while once fully matured they can safely be given nearly one and one-half teaspoonfuls.

For all puppies of varieties of medium size, as collies, the dose of areca nut should be increased by one-half a teaspoonful every second month until the sixteenth month is passed; that is, commencing with one teaspoonful after the fourth month, after the sixth it should be one and one-half; the eighth, two; the tenth, two and one-half; the twelfth, three; the fourteenth, three and one-half; the sixteenth, four; and this should be the dose thereafter.

The reader is reminded that the basis of these estimates is an even teaspoonful.

In adjusting the doses of areca nut for the largest breeds, precisely this same method of increase should be employed; that is, commencing with one teaspoonful after the fourth month if this dose is increased by one-half a teaspoonful every second month, in the sixteenth it will be the same as for medium-size breeds. But the increase should be persisted in, and in the same ratio, until after maturity, which is about the twenty-fourth month. In other words, the dose after the eighteenth month will be four and one-half teaspoonfuls; the twentieth, five; the twenty-second, five and one-half; and the twenty-fourth, six.

Doses estimated on these lines are only of moderate size, yet, as a rule, they are quite as effectual as much larger doses. And it is always better in cases of worms to resort to fairly small doses and repeat than give a single very large one.

When giving powdered areca nut to quite young puppies the best vehicle is milk; but the quantity should not be over a tablespoonful, for force must be used in administration.

The usual form in which it is given to puppies that have passed the sixth month and to mature dogs is that of a bolus, which can be made as follows : Place the required quantity of powder in the centre of a plate; drop on it two or three drops of molasses, and with the tip of a table-knife incorporate the whole, meanwhile adding more molasses as required. After all the grains of the powder adhere, take up the mass on the end of the knife and dip it into dry wheat flour. Now remove it with the fingers and roll it into a ball; while doing so it will be necessary to sprinkle more flour over it, otherwise it will stick to the fingers.

In administering this it is necessary to force open the patient's mouth, lift his nose in the air, drop in the bolus and with the forefinger push it back as far as possible, then quickly bring the jaws together and hold them tightly until it is swallowed.

But when the subjects will gulp small pieces of meat the most convenient way of giving areca nut is in a very thin slice of beef, folded or rolled so that the powder is concealed. And this should be tossed to the patient, so that he will catch and bolt it, after he has been teased with a few bits of meat.

Where the required quantity of areca nut is considerable, manifestly it would be advisable to give it in divided doses; that is, use several small slices of beef rather than a single large one.

Its active constituent being a volatile oil, areca nut speedily loses its value as a vermifuge after it has been reduced to a powder and exposed to the air, consequently the nuts should be invariably purchased and powdered as required. This powdering can be done at home by means of a nutmeg grater. And the lightest-colored nuts should be chosen, for they are of more recent growth than the dark-colored, therefore richer in the essential properties.

Along about the eighth month - but it may be much earlier or much later - puppies are likely to become infested with tapeworms, and although areca nut will oftentimes expel these troublesome tenants there are other agents that are more destructive to them, and with one of these the reader should be fortified.

Of the anthelmintics peculiarly adapted to this species of worm, male fern is one of the most active; and the form and combination should be as follows : -

Oil of male fern, one-half an ounce; olive oil, one and one-half ounces.

For puppies between six and eight months old, excepting, again, the small breeds and toys, the dose of this mixture is one teaspoonful.

For the small breeds an appropriate dose is one-half a teaspoonful; while one-fourth of a teaspoonful is right for the toys.

This mixture, like all others containing disagreeable oils, should be floated on a little milk, as previously advised with worm medicines Nos. I and 2.

For all varieties of medium or large size the doses of the male fern mixture should be increased by one-half when the second year has been entered; while with the largest breeds another and similar increase should be made at the beginning of the third year - or in other words they should then be taking two teaspoonfuls of the mixture.

In every case when male fern fails to have the desired effect, it should be administered again after an interval of a week.

Obviously in all cases where worm medicines, of whatever kind, are given, for the best results the intestines should be comparatively empty that the drugs may be brought in more thorough contact with the worms; consequently fasting for as long a time as wise and safe should be the rule. But in cases where the puppies are still nursing, a fast of two or three hours will be quite sufficient; and if such little ones are in imminent danger there need be no delay.

For puppies under five months of age oftentimes a fast of a night will be long enough; and a light supper of milk having been given, the worm treatment can be administered before breakfast. But where a tapeworm is the lodger to be expelled, about a week of preparatory treatment is advisable. And the importance of this appears in the following: While evacuations of many of the segments of the worm are easily brought about, but little has been really accomplished until the head is expelled, for reproduction is steady and rapid as long as that remains. This portion is very obstinate indeed in its adherence to the lining of the intestine, and being minute in size it is easily shielded from the action of the worm medicine by the tenacious mucus, which is always secreted in excess when a tapeworm is present.