410 DOGS I THEIR MANAGEMENT. 



SKIN DISEASES. 



EVERY affection of the skin in the dog is termed 

 raange. This is very wrong ; and receipts for the cure 

 of mange are all nonsense, unless we can imagine that 

 one physic is good for various disorders. The dog is 

 very subject to mange ; that is, the animal's system can 

 hardly suffer without the derangement flying to and de- 

 veloping itself externally, or upon the skin. True 

 mange is chiefly caught, being mainly dependent upon 

 contagion ; but all the other varieties have the seats in- 

 ternally, and are chiefly owing to the keep or lodging. 

 Too close a kennel will give rise to mange, as will too 

 spare or too full a diet ; too much flesh or unwholesome 

 food ; too hard or too luxurious a bed. In fact, there is 

 hardly a circumstance to which the animal is exposed 

 which will not cause this malady to be developed. Pecu- 

 liar kinds of bedding, as barley straw, will give rise to 

 it ; and particular kinds of diet, as subsisting entirely 

 upon flesh food, will produce it. In short, I know a few, 

 and only a few ; of those things which will cause it ; and 

 my time has been so taken up that I have been able to 

 observe but five distinct varieties ; though my reason 

 informs me there are many more than I here describe. 

 However, as, in describing five kinds of mange, I do 

 more than either of my predecessors, the public must be 

 content with the moiety for the present ; and wait till 

 either I find time to accurately note, if possible, the dif- 



