1 827.] Notes for the Month, 7 1 



instead of ten, would, from the shape of the animal, so long as he could 

 keep his seat (which, alarm apart, could not be very difficult), be as 

 safe from any attack as if he were in the bowels of the earth. 



We adverted a little way above to the " Notice to Mad Dogs," or dogs 

 likely to go mad, published by the magistrates of Bow-street. The Times 

 of Tuesday, the 26th instant, contains a sensible letter on the subject of 

 precautions for preventing the hydrophobia, by a writer who calls himself 

 " Medicus." This gentleman very justly observes that the practice 

 commonly advised, of muzzling dogs during the hot weather, is likely^ 

 instead of doing good, to drive a great many dogs mad who would not 

 otherwise become so. The dog does not (like the horse) perspire through the 

 skin from the effects of heat ; but the relief is obtained through the mouth 

 whence the habit which the dog has of hanging his tongue out, in hot 

 weather (after very little exertion, and sometimes without any) ; as well 

 as the free secretion of water, which may be observed at the same time, 

 from the glands in the vicinity of the jaw. The practice of muzzling, 

 therefore, which prevents the dog from relieving himself by opening the 

 mouth and throat freely, and also prevents him from drinking continually, 

 which he is inclined to do, is a course perfectly well calculated to worry him 

 into fever ; while in fact, it does not take away from him (every one con- 

 versant with the matter will be aware of this), the power to bite, where he 

 is angry and disposed to do so. The remedy, or rather precaution against 

 danger, which the writer in the Times points out, seems to us to be a far more 

 just and efficacious one. He proposes that all dogs found wandering in the 

 streets, without collars (bearing the owner's name, and place of abode) say 

 in the months of June, July, and August shall, invariably, be taken up 

 and destroyed, by officers appointed for the purpose; and that the owners 

 of those dogs who are found abroad in the streets with collars, shall be 

 fined in a fixed penalty for each offence of leaving them in that situation. 

 It may appear, looking at the thing in the abstract, that this would be a 

 harsh and a despotic law ; but we have no doubt that it is one which 

 would have very great efficacy in preventing the accidents which are 

 constantly occurring from the bite of rabid animals; and we see no 

 good reason why, under such circumstances, it should not be carried into 

 execution. One of the " Pavement acts," only a few years since, put a 

 stop, without the slightest scruple, to the practice of keeping pigs in the 

 metropolis, and allowing them to run about the streets ; a habit, the in- 

 convenience of which was perfectly trivial, compared with that of which, 

 in the present case, we seek to get rid, and where the animals prohibited 

 had a sort of utility to be pleaded in their favour. An arrangement like 

 that proposed, would not merely have the effect of protecting the lives of 

 the public ; but, inasmuch as it would thin the shoal of wretched dogs, 

 which are reared by the lowest and most rascally part of the London 

 population, for their sport and amusement, would in that second view 

 become a circumstance of considerable amendment and advantage. 



A furious struggle has been raised among the evening newspapers, by 

 the exertion and speculating temper of the proprietors of The Sun ; who 

 have lately extended their paper nearly to as large a size as The Times ; 

 retained a regular body of reporters ; and now publish " Second Editions" 

 almost every evening, giving the debates in the House of Commons, &c 

 up even to seven or eight o'clock. At the Westminster dinner, about a 

 month since, Sir Francis Burdett's speech which he did not rise to de- 

 liver until after seven o'clock was put into the honourable baronet's hand 

 in print, in The Sun, at ten ! and very well reported, by the way, into the 



