The St. Bernard. 253. 



white in the same manner is supposed to be peculiarly consecrated to his 

 work," and adds, "There is no rational objection to the value appor- 

 tioned to this point." I, on the other hand, think there is more than one 

 rational objection to it : First, as he gives ten positive points for this 

 line up the poll and five more for colour, distributed as he describes it,, 

 a self-coloured dog like Mr. Du Maurier's magnificent dog Chang or Dr. 

 Russell's grand young bitch Muren would be debited with fifteen 

 negative points, or a difference of thirty points less than one marked 

 after this arbitrary fashion, and to my mind this is eminently unjust. 

 On this rule Meuthon would never have won a prize, and in that case the 

 rule would have done good, but by it Chang, Muren, and many other 

 good ones would be debarred from winning. 



The second objection I have to it, and which I hope readers will not 

 consider an irrational one, is that to my mind it is an anachronism to in- 

 troduce a monkish superstition as a factor in the practical work of 

 dog judging in the present day. I remember seeing Mr. Samuel Lang 

 and Mr. William Lort engaged for about two hours in judging a large 

 class of costermongers' donkeys, but I have no recollection that they 

 were influenced by or even looked for that cross on the back which surely 

 as "peculiarly consecrates" an ass as the fancied resemblance of a 

 mark of white to the badge of a Benedictine monk does a St. Bernard 

 dog. 



I also wish to record my strong objection to dew claws being 

 considered a necessary or advantageous adjunct; they are just the 

 opposite, and, in addition, are as ugly as a wart or any other 

 "accidental monstrosity," as Darwin designates dew claws. Those 

 who contend that dew claws prevent the dog sinking in the snow must 

 be profoundly ignorant on the matter; they can never have travelled 

 through a heavy snowfall, for they might -as well expect the point of a 

 walking stick to prevent them sinking in a snow wreath as a dew claw, 

 double or treble, to support a St. Bernard under like circumstances. 

 All dew claws should be cut off ; they give a clumsy appearance, and 

 the leg would look cleaner and better shaped without them. That 

 the large foot fits the animal for snow travelling is clear enough, 

 but the dew claw, which is loose, and easily doubles up, is useless as a 

 support. 



"The head is large and massive, but is without the width of the 



