Varieties of the Dog. 23 



In many breeds, however, the neck is extremely long and 

 swan-like ; and this point gives great power of reaching 

 the hare without losing the stride, which would be a fatal 

 drawback in the fast dog. 



The chest and neck together constitute the body or 

 trunk. The chest is a conical cavity adapted to contain 

 the lungs, heart, and great vessels, to protect them from 

 injury, and to inflate the lungs by enlarging the capacity 

 of the chamber which contains them. Such a cavity must 

 therefore be of sufficient volume for the first purpose, of 

 sufficient strength for the second, and of sufficiently vary- 

 ing capacity for the third ; and all these offices the chest 

 of the greyhound efficiently performs. But not only must 

 it be thus formed, but it must also be so flattened on the 

 sides that the shoulder-blades shall lie smoothly upon 

 them, and have free play to extend themselves. In order 

 to meet all these requirements, the chest of the greyhound 

 is deeper than in most animals, so as to give increase of 

 volume without separating the shoulders too much, or 

 placing their blades on too convex a surface. But if the 

 chest is prolonged too far downwards, it strikes the ground 

 in the efforts made to stop the speed at the turns, and in 

 that way is prejudicial to the going of the dog. Thus a 

 happy medium is required in this department, and the 

 chest must be wide, but not too round, and deep, without 

 being so much so as to interfere with the working powers. 

 Besides these two points, it is important that the ril3s shall 

 be well separated from each other, so that they may ex- 

 pand the cavity properly, otherwise respiration is not per- 

 formed with sufficient power and velocity. This width of 

 the spaces is known to exist by the comparative length 

 between the breast and the last rib at the loin ; but, again, 

 this must not be too great, or the back is rendered weak, 

 and incapable of those vigorous and quick efforts which 

 the gallop requires. 



The back ought to be well let into the shoulders — that 

 is to say, the muscles which compose it ought to run well 

 forward towards the shoulder-blades, and should leave a 

 strong ridge of muscle standing up above the ribs on each 

 side of the spine. This is a very important point, and 



