MEDICAL TREATMENT OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 505 



" from fast growth, and the difficulty their long, weak legs have 

 " in carrying their bodies. But if it lasts after they are getting 

 "age, then it must be seen to. If their resting-place has a 

 " wooden, stone, or brick floor, this is probably the cause ; if this 

 " is not so, stimulating food, such as I have described for other 

 " diseases, must be given. 



" Fowls, like human beings, are subject to atmospherical influ- 

 " ence ; and if healthy fowls seem suddenly attacked with illness 

 " that cannot be explained, a copious meal of bread steeped in ale 

 " will often prove a speedy and effectual remedy. For adults, 

 " nothing will restore strength sooner than eggs, boiled hard, 

 "and chopped fine. If these remedies are not successful, then 

 "the constitution is at fault, and good, healthy cocks must be 

 " sought to replace those whose progeny is faulty. 



" ' Prevention is better than cure.' The cause of many diseases 

 " is to be found in enfeebled and bad constitutions ; and these are 

 " the consequences of in-and-in breeding. The introduction of 

 " fresh blood is absolutely necessary every second year, and even 

 "every year is better. Many fanciers who breed for feather, fear 

 "to do so lest false colors should appear, but they should recollect 

 " that one of the first symptoms of degeneracy is a foul feather ; 

 " for instance, the Sebright bantam loses lacing, and becomes 

 " patched, the Spanish fowls throw white feathers, and pigeons 

 " practice numberless freaks. An experiment was once tried 

 " which will illustrate this. A pair of black pigeons was put in 

 " a large loft, and allowed to breed without any introduction of 

 " fresh blood. They were well and carefully fed. At the end of 

 " two years an account of them was taken. They had greatly 

 " multiplied, but only one-third of the number were black, and the 

 *' others had become spotted with white, then patched, and then 

 " quite white ; while the latter had not only lost the characteristics 

 "of the breed from which they descended, but were weak and 

 " deformed in every possible way. The introduction of fresh 

 " blood prevents all this ; and the breeder for prizes, or whoever 

 " wishes to have the best of the sort he keeps, should never let 

 "a fowl escape him if it possesses the qualities he seeks. 



