32 THOUGHTS UPON HUNTING. 



the purposes for which they were designed. The sense of 

 smelling, the odora canim vis, as Virgil calls it, is so ex- 

 quisite in a hound, that I cannot but suppose every stench 

 is hurtful to it. It is that faculty on which all our hopes 

 depend ; it is that which must lead us over greasy fallows, 

 where the feet of the game we pursue, being clogged, 

 leave little scent behind ; as well as over stony roads, 

 through watery meads, and where sheep have stained the 

 ground. 



Cleanliness is not only absolutely necessary to the 

 nose of the hound, but also to the preservation of his 

 health. Dogs are naturally cleanly animals ; they seldom, 



< when they can, help it, dung wliere they lie : air, and fresk 

 straw, are necessary to keep them healthy. They are sub- 

 jeft to the m.ange , a disorder to which poverty and 

 nastiness will very much contribute. This, though easily 

 stopped at its first appearance, if suffered to continue 

 long, may lessen the powers of the animal ; and the re- 

 medies which are then to be used, being in themselves 



i violent, must injure his constitution. It had better be 

 prevented : let the kennel, therefore, be an objed of your 

 particular care. 



