59 2 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY 



mere varieties. The parent stock from which all our 

 domesticated races have sprung, has long been a 

 dispute among naturalists, and is at this time an 

 unsettled point. Buffon was of opinion that the 

 shepherd's dog was the progenitor of them all. 



Dogs in a domesticated condition are liable to a 

 variety of diseases ; but, above all others, what has 

 been termed canine madness, or hydrophobia, is the 

 worst, and most to be dreaded by mankind. They 

 are, besides, subject to many complaints, in some 

 respects similar to those of the human body. We 

 believe there is none more common with them than 

 lung disease and worm complaints, diseases to which 

 mankind in this country are very liable. Our friend, 

 Mr Mackenzie, keeper of the anatomical museum in 

 the University of Edinburgh, an expert anatomist 

 and physiologist, concurs with me in this opinion, 

 and informs me that he has made many dissections 

 of dogs, and found diseased lungs very prevalent in 

 them. This is chiefly to be attributed to sleeping in 

 damp situations, and in the open air, at times, when 

 they are for the most part accustomed to be kept 

 comfortable and dry in a house. Some families of 

 dogs are constitutionally liable to this disorder ; and 

 sportsmen would do well to avoid breeding from a 

 stock predisposed to lung disease. 





