316 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTOET. [Book VIII. 



CHAP. 62. THE GENEI{ATION OF THE DOG.^° 



This animal brings forth twice in the year ; it is capable 

 of bearing young when a year old, acd gestation continues for 

 sixty days. The young ones are born blind, and the greater 

 the supply of nourishment from the mother's milk, the more 

 slowly do they acquire thc^ir sight ; still, however, this never 

 takes place later than the twentieth day, or earlier than the 

 seventh. It is said by some Avriters, that if only one is born, 

 it is able to see on the ninth day ; and that if there are two, 

 they begin to see on the tenth, every additional one causing the 

 power of seeing to come a day later. It is said, too, that the 

 females which are produced by the mother in her first litter, 

 are subject to the night-mare.^^ The best dog of the litter is 

 the one which is last in obtaining its sight, or else the one 

 which the mother carries first into her bed. 



CHAP. 63. — hemedies against canine madness.'^' 



Canine madness is fatal to man during the heat of Sirius,^' 

 and, as we have already said, it proves so in consequence of 

 those who are bitten having a deadly horror of water.^* For 

 this reason, during the thirty days "^^ that this star exerts its 

 influence, we try to prevent the disease by mixing dung from 



20 These statements are probably, for the most part, from Aristotle, 

 Hist. Anim, B. v. c. 14, and B. vi. c. 20.— B. 



21 " Faunos cerni." Ilardouin remarks on these words; " Flitting before 

 the sight, and rushing upon each other, like the Ephialtes," and refers, 

 for a farther explanation, to his commentary on the passage in B. xxv. c. 

 10, where the subject is treated more at large. The Ephialtes is generally 

 supposed to have been what we term incubus or nightmare. — B. 



22 All these remedies are perfectly useless. — B. 



23 Pliny details the noxious effects, conceived to be produced by the in- 

 fluence of Sirius, in B. ii.c. 40, and, among others, its tendency to produce 

 canine madness. In B. xxix. c. 32, he enumerates the various remedies 

 proposed for the disease; these, however, are equally ineflSlcacious with 

 those mentioned here. — B. 



2* We have an account of this disease in Celsus, B. v. c. 27, and 

 especially of the peculiar symptom from which it derives its classical 

 denomination. It is remarkable that Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 22, 

 speaking of canine madness, says, that it is communicated by the dog to all 

 animals, ea>cept man. — B. See B. vii. c. 13. 



25 It appears that there was a difference of opinion as to the number of 

 days during which the Dog-star continued to exercise its influence. — B. 



