DOGS'. THEIR MANAGEMENT. 201 



panies a game of romps. Both, however, are distinct 

 from the suppressed warning with which the watchdog 

 announces the advancing stranger, or the sharp defiance 

 by which he signifies his determination to attack. The 

 bark also is not by any means monotonous, but is capable 

 of infinite variety. The cries of the animal are remarka- 

 bly modulated ; but the soft and gentle sounds it can 

 emit when inclined to coax its master, or answering to the 

 excess of pleasure which his caresses create, are full of 

 natural music. The dog's voice is not to my ear less 

 beautiful than the song of a bird ; but more delightful, 

 because it is more full of meaning. The nightingale has 

 but one song, which it constantly repeats. The cur has 

 many tuneful notes, with which it responds to my atten- 

 tions. Music has been recognised in the tongues of the 

 pack, but I have heard harmony more delightful from 

 the hound in my home. I like to hear the dog's voice, 

 especially when not too loud, and having studied it, I 

 have often wondered the animal did not speak. There 

 can be little doubt it would be able to frame words if it 

 possessed the power to comprehend their meaning ; but 

 the high intelligence of the creature unfits it for parrot- 

 like mimicry. The dog is, in all it does, guided by its 

 reason, and it performs no act without a reasonable mo- 

 tive. If any physical incapacity exist, it is to be found 

 rather in the formation of the mouth than in the construc- 

 tion of the larynx, which presents no explanation of the 

 dog's inability to frame definite sounds like words. 



The part is rarely the seat of acute disease. In rabies, 

 9* 



