NOTITIA VENATICA. 55 



I think it must be kennel-lameness ;" but at the same time knows no 

 more what kennel-lameness is than the " man in the moon." 

 The best cause that I can attribute it to is from the building being 

 either on a bed of sand or upon a sandstone rock. Of the four kennels 

 occupied by the writer of this treatise two of them were decidedly sub- 

 ject to the disease, one partictilarly so ; they were both built upon sand, 

 one of them close upon a sandstone rock, and what would generally be 

 considered the healthiest and driest spot in the world, and one especially 

 calculated for the purpose for which it was used : the lodging-rooms 

 were well ventilated, with good sloping floors, and always were every- 

 thing that cleanHness could demand. It was used during the cub-hunt- 

 ing season by the Warwickshire hounds before the author occupied it, 

 and only occasionally in the winter for one or two nights at a time. No 

 sign of lameness occurred during that period, but when it was used re- 

 gularly during winter the lameness became manifest ; out of forty cou- 

 ples there were sometimes fourteen or fifteen couples lame. The usual 

 remedies, of which 1 shall speak hereafter, were ti'ied ; but although 

 some became eventually sound, their recovery might be attributed more 

 to turning them out to run loose than to any artificial resources. 



Another cause from which kennel-lameness may be supposed to arise 

 is the situation being upon ground where the springs rise up in a direct 

 line. The best reason to give for its existence where the ground is 

 sandy, is, that the exhalation from that sort of soil is much greater than 

 from any other, and that the damp arising from it, although impercepti- 

 ble in itself, causes lameness ; which is, in fact, rheumatism. In look- 

 ing into the "Edinburgh Philosophical Journal," where there is an 

 article upon "Artesian Wells,"* by M. Arago, I find that in this sup- 

 position I am partly borne out by the opinion of Aristotle, which is there 

 quoted ; he considered that a central heat is produced by the increased 

 humidity arising from water pent up in the inside of the earth, and which 

 finds its easiest escape through that body which is the most porous. 

 This water was supposed by him, and also by many other philosophical 

 inquirers, to be filtered through the various strata of soil from the sea 

 (and not composed of rain-water, as has been conjectured by some per- 

 sons), as it has been attested that rain-water never penetrates very deep 

 into the ground ; but whether that is the case or not, it makes no sort 

 of difference to what I wish to prove. M. Arago goes on to say, " that 

 Seneca mentions in his questions on natural history that rain, however 

 abundant it may be, never penetrates into the soil above ten feet ; he 

 states that he is certain of this from having made many careful experi- 

 ments with this object in view. It becomes a question whether we must 

 not have recourse to internal vapours in explaining the existence of 

 fountains which are situated far above the level of the sea, whilst their 

 source is also deep under a vast extent of soil. According to the ex- 

 periments of the great number of naturalists who have recently engaged 

 in these researches, the permeability of the earth would be decidedly in- 

 ferior to the limit assigned by Seneca. Thus Marriotte maintains that 



* From the French province of Artois, where entensive researches wete carried on 

 for the discovery of subterranean water. 



