64 THE REARING OF YOUNG DOGS. 



gained by this means*. At times some difficulty is experienced 

 in getting a foster parent to nurture strange young; in which 

 case it is usual to sprinkle them with the milk of the bitch they 

 are to be put to : but when even this will not avail, the removal 

 of her own young will commonly excite the feelings of maternity 

 towards the stranger : the former plan is, however, commonly suf- 

 ficient, acting as it does on a similar principle with that by which 

 shepherds succeed, who, when a ewe dies, take her lamb, and, 

 having found a ewe with a dead one, the dead lamb's skin is 

 stripped off by them, and sewed around the living lamb, who is 

 then received by the foster parent as her own. Most animal in- 

 stincts connected with the reproductive system are conducted by 

 means of smelling. 



Puppies are born blind, and remain so for many days ; their 

 ears are also impervious. Eyesight and hearing would have been 

 useless to animals so indigent, and which, in a state of nature, 

 were intended to remain buried the first weeks of their existence 

 in holes and dark caverns. These organs only develope them- 

 selves when their owners begin to be sensible of their wants : the 

 lids unclose by degrees, and then exhibit a membranaceous cover- 

 ing, or rather a thickened state of the conjunctive tunic ; but which 

 gradually becoming absorbed, presents ultimately a perfect eye. 

 At this early age, the whole skin presents a beautiful pink tinge, 

 which disappears by degrees, and gives place to a clear white in 

 most parts of the body ; while the rete mucosum of such parts as 

 are intended to exhibit a dark hue, as the roof of the mouth, paws, 

 nose, &c., at the same lime assumes its intended colour. The 

 upper milk or temporary teeth, both cutting and grinding, appear 

 first, and are tolerably complete at a month old ; the others appear 

 later, by which arrangement the teats of the mother do not suffer: 



* I was acquainted with a very fine child with diseased eyelids, who was the 

 only one thus affected out of a large family ; she was likewise tlie only one put 

 out to nurse. The woman who suckled her had a large family also, and most 

 of her children have the same affection: I have likewise traced diseases in dogs, 

 and habits also, to the source of foster parentage. 



