RICKETS ENLARGED JOINTS. 93 



am fully aware, is altogether heterodox, but I felt so strongly the 

 truth of my opinion, that I am bound to maintain it. I would not 

 condemn a puppy because he has good bony joints, nor even if 

 rather lumpy, but if in the intervals between the joints there is 

 a manifest falling off, with a tendency to distortion, by bowing out 

 or in, or sometimes forwards, I should certainly avoid him, as 

 likely only to lead to disappointment from a broken leg, or an 

 inflamed or dislocated joint. For not only are the shafts of the 

 bones weak and liable to fracture, but the ligaments of the joints 

 are also small and delicate, and dislocation is almost sure to 

 occur, after the useless outlay of time, money, and temper, to 

 which I have an especial objection. To make myself clearly 

 understood upon this subject, I must render myself liable to the 

 charge of repetition, perhaps usque ad nauseam, but, nevertheless, 

 I believe the importance is such that I cannot avoid dwelling 

 somewhat on a point which is not sufficiently attended to. It is 

 a well-known axiom that nature does nothing in vain, and that 

 she only has recourse to any subsidiary process as the best means 

 of supplying an accidental deficiency; consequently, when the 

 joints are enlarged by the deposit of soft gelatinous matter to a 

 greater extent than natural, it is only because it requires more of 

 the second-best material (gelatine) than of the best (lime) to give 

 the joints firmness enough to withstand the shocks even of the 

 puppy's gallop. I do not mean here the puppy of two or three 

 months old, but of seven, eight, or nine months of age. Prior to 

 this age the ends of the bones are cartilaginous in all cases, with 

 the exception of a small central nucleus of bone, and have little 



