THE DOG. 87 



certainly to be found recorded in different books, 

 and I believe generally credited. 



Diseases incidental to Dogs. 



Dogs are liable to many disorders, and for each 

 disease numbers of remedies have been prescribed. 

 But madness is the most dreadful of all others, and 

 hitherto has baffled the skill of all those who have 

 made the cure of it their particular study. 



Madness is a distemper very common among all 

 kinds of dogs, but which, by proper care, is in gene- 

 ral easily prevented. It proceeds from high feeding 

 and want of exercise, and also from fulness of blood 

 and costiveness. With regard to the two first it may 

 be observed, that they should be better fed when you 

 hunt them, than when they rest j and let them be 

 neither too fat nor too lean, but of the two rather in- 

 clined to fat; by which means they will not only be 

 preserved from madness, but also from the mange 

 and scab. If you have not an opportunity of letting 

 dogs have free access to good clear water, such as a 

 running stream, for instance, let it be changed every 

 day, and take care they have as much as they please. 

 Their exercise and diet must be ordered according to 

 your own discretion, being careful to observe a proper 

 medium ; and give them once a week, especially in 

 the heat of the year, five or six spoonfuls of salad 

 oil, which will cleanse them ; at other times, the 

 quantity of a hazel nut of mithridate may be given 



