168 FACT AGAINST FICTION. 



woiincls occasioned by their teeth, just as the 

 illiterate blacksmith of old was supposed to bo 

 well skilled in the ailments and remedies for cow 

 or horse, because he had nailed shoes upon the 

 latter's feet. I have seen the most awful-looking 

 bites on the hands and arms of these labouring 

 men, many of them given by hounds afflicted 

 with insanity — one in particular, where the holders 

 had gone deep into the thick part of the thumb, 

 and between it and the back of the hand. To 

 this frightful-looking wound I saw Curnock apply 

 a terrific dressing of horse-grease skimmed off the 

 boiling caldron, spread on a bit of tow, and that 

 kept tight in its place by a ligature of tar twine. 

 As soon as this and other surgical appliances were 

 over, and such remedies to mitigate inflammation 

 in these strong men completed, they sped to join 

 their unwoundcd companions in the jolly castle 

 hall, and to share in their frequent libations of 

 the ^^ castle strong beer." 



In all my experience, and in all the long term, 

 extending over so very . many years, during which 

 I was constantly at Berkeley Castle, as well as 

 attending to my own kennel, I never knew a 

 single serious or fatal instance to arise among 



