272 CARNIVORA. 



such as a steel fork or knitting-needle. Many persons assert that hydro- 

 phobia in man is purely a disease of the imagination ; this is not the case, 

 as Hertwig has produced the genuine canine rabies in dogs by inoculating 

 them with the virus from a man suffering from hydrophobia. But it is 

 beyond doubt that ver}- many people fall victims to their own terrors ; 

 and therefore everything which tends to excite alarm ought to be care- 

 fully avoided when the sufferer is nervous or excitable. Do NOT kill t/ic 

 dog on suspicion ; keep it carefully till its condition is clearly ascertained ; by . 

 destroying it at once we are left in a state of uncertainty as to whetlier it is 

 mad or no, and the nervous sufferer zvill ahvays adopt the zcorst alternative ; 

 by preserving it we shall be able to give the most positive assurances in most 

 cases that the animal is not mad. 



The number of puppies which the dog produces at a single litter is 

 very large, var)-ing from three or four to fifteen, or even a still greater 

 number. The.y are born, as is the case with kittens and several other 

 3-oung animals, with closed eyes, and do not open their e3'elids for the 

 space of several days. As it is manifestly impossible for the mother to 

 rear the whole of a very large family their number must be reduced, 

 either by destroying several of the little ones, whicli of course ought to 

 be the weakest and smallest specimens, or by removing the supernu- 

 merary offspring and placing them under the care of another dog which 

 has lately taken upon herself the maternal duties. In this case it needs 

 not that the wet-nurse should be of the same kind with her charge, as it 

 is found that health of constitution and a liberal supply of milk are the 

 only necessary qualifications for that responsible office. 



