290 ANATOMY OF THE DOG. 



animals. This has passed into a proverb, and should be known as 

 influencing the time which dogs take to recruit their strength. 



THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



The nervous system is highly developed in those breeds whicli 

 have been carefully attended to, that is, where individuals of high 

 nervous sensibility have been selected to breed from. This is 

 therefore remarkable in the bulldog, selected for generations for 

 courage ; in the pointer, where steadiness in pointing has been the 

 prominent cause of choice ; and in the greyhound, whose charac- 

 teristic is speed ; all requiring a high development of the nervous 

 system, and all particularly liable to nervous diseases, such as fits, 

 chorea, etc. On the other hand, the cur, the common sheep-dog, 

 etc., seldom suffer from any disease whatever. 



THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM. 



The stomach of this animal is extremely powerful in dissolving 

 bones, but it is also very liable to sickness, and on the slightest dis- 

 turbance rejects its contents. This appears to be almost a natural 

 effect, and not a diseased or disordered condition, as there is scarcely 

 a dog which does not wilfully produce vomiting occasionally by 

 swallowing grass. Few medicines which are at all irritating will 

 remain down, and a vast number which are supposed to be given 

 are not retained on the stomach, while others are only partially so. 

 The bowels are extremely liable to become costive, which is in 

 great measure owing to the want of proper exercise, and this also 

 is very apt to produce torpidity of the liver. It may, however, be 

 observed that in almost all particulars, except the tendency to 

 vomit, the digestive organs of the dog resemble those of man. 



