144 DOGS : THEIR MANAGEMENT. 



the torture, attacks the member with its teeth, The skin 

 is first removed, and then the flesh. The mouth may be 

 covered with blood, the teeth clogged with hair, and the 

 very bones attacked ; but the pain which the sight of 

 the mangled surface suggests to the spectator seems 

 not to be felt by the dog, which appears desirous only of 

 destroying its own body. I have known two of the toes 

 of one fore-paw to be thus consumed, so that amputation 

 was afterward imperative, portions of the metacarpal 

 bones being laid bare. In several instances the root of 

 the tail has been eaten, until .the sacrum and first tail 

 bones, with the nerves, were exposed. The rage cannot 

 be overcome, and, unless the disposition be prevented by 

 mechanical means, the consequence will be fatal. No 

 author that I am acquainted with has noticed this pe- 

 culiarity; and in general it is attributed to other canses 

 than distemper, which is either not observed, or is sup- 

 posed to have been got over. 



Tumors on various parts of the body, and of different 

 kinds, sometimes but not usually accompany the disease; 

 but as I have not been able to satisfy myself they are 

 peculiar to the disorder, or induced by any other cause 

 than the debility attendant on distemper, there is in this 

 place no occasion to more than point out the possibility 

 of their appearance. They are unfavorable as indica- 

 tions of general weakness, but they do not seem to pos- 

 sess any further or direct influence over the course of the 

 affection. 



The genital organs rarely escape altogether. A thick 



