HUNTING DIRECTORY. 10a 



Dumb Madness. 



almost continually open, the inside of which appeared 

 darker coloured than usual, and somewhat swelled. I 

 immediately bled him copiously, which, however, pro- 

 duced no visible alteration ; on the contrary, the next 

 day all the symptoms had evidently increased, and I 

 observed that he was unable to swallow, though he made 

 many attempts both to eat and drink, particularly the 

 latter : but the water, or the milk, which, by putting his 

 nose into the vessel, he contrived to get into his movith, 

 uniformly run out again, and he appeared utterly unable 

 to pass it down his throat : he licked his fore-legs very 

 much, and seemed to have a trifling discharge of mucus, 

 or saliva : but all this time the dog appeared not only 

 perfectly sensible, but even in good spirits, and evidently 

 experienced but little pain. A sporting acquaintance, 

 who saw him, said the disease was what was distin- 

 guished by the appellation of dumb madness, which seems 

 to me altogether a ridiculous term ; and supposing this 

 tx> have been the disorder with which my dog was af- 

 fected, I can testify that the term is very improperly 

 applied, as the animal in question regularly barked on 

 the approach of a stranger, though in a different tone, 

 and with more difficulty than usual. However, I imme- 

 diately searched authorities for dumb madness, with a 

 view to ascertain the proper mode of treatment. In an 

 old writer, (the author of the " Gentleman's Recreation,") 

 I found it thus described: — "The dog that is troubled 

 with dumb madness will not feed, bvit holds his mouth 

 tvide open continually, putting his feet to his mouth fre- 

 quently, as if he had a bone in his throat." Now, though 

 my dog kept his jaws somewhat distended, his mouth 



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