EFFECTS OF PHYSIC ON HOUND AND DOG. 177 



the power at will instantly to reject the objection- 

 able, or by them supposed to be objectionable, 

 morsel. With this power of wilful rejection of the 

 contents of the stomach, the female portion of the 

 canine race are more gifted than the males ; and 

 for this reason : — It is in the reasoning* powers of the 

 female — for it cannot be referred to mere instinct — 

 to know that her little puppies, when at a certain 

 age, require more sustenance than she herself can 

 afford them. Therefore, she will feed herself first, 

 and, after mastication, and the action of her own 

 gastric juices, will reject from the stomach the food 

 and give it to her puppies. In a wild state, — in dog, 

 wolf, or fox, for it pertains to them alike, — this gift 

 of stomachic rejection is absolutely necessary to 

 their whelps or cubs, because they have to hunt for 

 raw and solid food, which, when killed or picked 

 up, must be taken home and reduced in consistence. 

 Without this power of reproduction, the litters of 

 whelps or cubs would have entirely to subsist on the 

 mother. 



It is a mystery to me that, possessing this power 

 of rejection, dogs are as easily poisoned as they are. 

 Why do they not, on the first symptom of internal 

 disarrangement, at once get rid of the painful 



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