10 THE SWAN. 



stimulant, of a strong flavour and viscous quality, 

 and of a putrescent tendency. The flesh of the 

 tame goose is more tender than that of the wild, 

 but generally it is a diet best adapted to good sto- 

 machs and powerful digestion, and should be sparingly 

 used by the sedentary and weak, or by persons sub- 

 ject to cutaneous diseases. 



The fat, or grease, of the goose is more subtle, 

 penetrating, and resolvent, than the lard of swine, 

 and is an excellent article to be reserved for domestic 

 use, in various cases. Sportsmen of the old school 

 held the opinion, extraordinary as it may now seem, 

 that when a kennel of hounds show symptoms of 

 rabies, or madness, the best prophylactic remedy, 

 is to keep a considerable flock of geese in it, for a 

 length of time ; and the late Dr. James, exceedingly 

 attached to dogs, inclined to give a degree of credit to 

 this presumed remedy, which, if real, must consist in 

 the saline and penetrative qualities of the anserine 

 excrement: the danger, however, of exposing the 

 geese to the possibility of infection, ought certainly 

 not to be overlooked. 



The Swan. 



The Cygnet, or young swan, only, is reckoned 

 eatable, and that after a peculiar preparation, 

 although in old time the swan formed a dish 

 of embellishment and show at great feasts. Swan 

 fat possesses probably much the same qualities as 

 that of the goose above described, but is supposed 

 somewhat more mild and emollient. Many curative 

 virtues were attributed by the ancients to the swan's 



