332 FACT AGAINST FICTION. 



hounds liacl been destroyed, . wliicli, fortunately 

 for all sportsmen, proved to be a lie. 



At this spot I pause, to assure my readers tliat, 

 on the event of the inquests on men, holden by 

 the coroners, the verdicts were that the patients 

 had died, not from hydrophobia or from any 

 infection caused by the tooth of dog or cat, but 

 that death had arisen from natural causes as 

 shown by acute disease visible on post-mortem 

 examination. 



The published report which appeared in one 

 of the papers, in respect to the Belvoir kennels, 

 was, as I have said, simply a canard set about 

 without the slightest foimdation. On direct in- 

 quiry, the Belvoir hounds, botli old and young, 

 were never more healthy, nor the young entry 

 suffering in a milder degree from the usual attack 

 of distemper, ahvays more or less 'prevalent in 

 each succeeding spring. 



Closely following these veterinary mistakes, came 

 the lamentable fact, as reported, that forty young 

 hounds in the Wentworth kennels liad, in the 

 absence of Lord Fitzwilliam, been destroyed on 

 account of liydrophobia. On thorough investiga- 

 tion, I expect that here again a fearful loss to 



