376 THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



generally be of good size and powerful, and be entered 

 without loss of time. 



" It is said that the dog, in a state of nature, is subject 

 to few diseases, and for those he finds his cure by an 

 instinctive faculty : in a domesticated state he is subject 

 to many, and some of an awful nature, which may be 

 classed amongst the opprobria medicorum, no certain 

 remedy being discovered for them. Amongst these is 

 one called ' distemper,' not known to our forefathers, but, 

 at present, become a sort of periodical disorder in kennels 

 of hounds, to the destruction of thousands of young ones 

 annually. The first symptoms of this disease are, 

 generally, a dry husky cough, want of appetite, and 

 consequent loss of flesh ; extreme dulness, and a running 

 from the eyes and nose. As the disease advances, it is 

 attended with distressing twitchings of the head and, 

 occasionally, of the whole frame, while the animal becomes 

 very weak in the loins and hinder extremities, and is 

 greatly emaciated ; convulsive fits, too, often close the 

 scene. For the cure of this disorder I venture not to 

 prescribe ; there is no specific, but the severity of the 

 disease may be diminished by lowering the system of 

 young hounds by gentle doses of salts when they first 

 come into kennel, and, to a great extent, successfully 

 guarded against by very great attention to their diet, 

 cleanliness, and exercise. 



" With respect to the age of hounds, few are found in 

 a kennel after their eighth year, and still fewer after 

 their ninth ; and not many hard-working hounds can 

 ' run up,' or keep pace with the rest, after their sixth 

 season. Hounds are in their prime in the third and 

 fourth year, but there are instances, rare ones, of their 

 hunting in their eleventh and twelfth. I should place 

 the average at four seasons. Old hounds are useful 

 in the field, but when they cannot run up they should 

 be drafted. The perfection of a pack consists in the 

 great body of it being composed of hounds quite in their 

 prime. 



" I have always been partial to a good cry in hounds, 

 and listen to it with feelings not confined to fox-hunting. 

 Sounds, by association, become the signs of ideas, and the 

 great variety in the voice of nature must have been de- 

 signed to meet the peculiar tastes and purposes of the 

 countless multitudes that dwell on the face of the earth. 



