114 DISEASES OF THE GREYHOUND. 



of violence there is a loss of sensibility, so that the dog does 

 not feel the slightest pain on being stabbed with a pitchfork, 

 or burnt with a red-hot poker, which, indeed, a rabid dog will 

 seize on and hold, though his lips and tongue are scorched to 

 a cinder. When in confinement, there is almost always a peculiar 

 howl ; but I have never heard of a dog at large barking or 

 howling, and I am inclined to think that this is an instinctive 

 effort to use the only muscular exertion in the power of the 

 animal. The howl is very remarkable, and is often strangely 

 mixed up with the bark, . being unlike the ordinary voice of 

 the dog, and sonorous and melancholy in the highest degree. The 

 bowels are generally costive throughout, but the urine is often 

 good in quantity, though thick, and dark-coloured. As the 

 disease advances, the paralysis of sensation is followed by loss of 

 power and motion, partial at first, but finally complete. This is 

 particularly the case with the hind legs, the dog showing an 

 unsteady gait, and often balancing himself from side to side. At 

 last he falls ; but, soon getting up, he continues his task of 

 running forward, only to stagger and fall again, till he becomes 

 convulsed and dies. This termination, it is true, is not often 

 witnessed, because the bystanders most frequently destroy either 

 the life or the liberty of the individual ; and when confined the 

 paralysis is not so obvious, but the death always takes place with 

 convulsions. 



The disease runs its course in the dog in from three to six days. 

 I once had a case which terminated fatally in two days. I had 

 bought a Newfoundland dog from the huntsman of a pack of 



