Functions of the Generative Organs. 145 



(and would be, in all probability, by the uninitiated) for 

 whelps. 



The presence of milk in the teats towards the last week 

 of pregnancy is not to be depended upon by itself as asign 

 of approaching parturition, as its secretion frequently takes 

 place after copulation, or oestrum without the latter, towards 

 and at the period of what should have terminated pregnancy. 



In the mastiff bitch. Duchess, already alluded to, this was 

 always the case, so that eventually, when she did conceive, 

 I was in some doubt as to the fact until she had nearly run 

 the full time, when the .alteration in her habits convinced 

 me to the contrary. Some animals carry their young so close, 

 i.e., exhibit such slight signs of altered shape, as to render 

 the case still more obscure. A fortnight before Duchess 

 whelped I was most positively assured by numerous canine 

 individuals, including one of vast and long experience, and 

 who offered to bet five pounds on the event, that she was not 

 with young, and, further, that the glairy discharge she 

 evacuated was proof of the opinion. When the time arrived 

 she gave birth to thirteen whelps. 



When, therefore, there is any doubt about the matter, look 

 to the habits of the bitch, and particularly towards the ap- 

 proaching period of parturition. A drowsy condition, a ^yish 

 for seclusion, and in a place hitherto unnoticed, should 

 arouse our suspicions that parturition is likely to take place. 



PARTURITION. 



I have now arrived at one of the most important subjects 

 contained in this work, and one that I should handle with 

 far more diiiSdence than I shall do, had my canine ex- 

 perience been limited only to the treatment of disease. 

 There are, however, times at which Nature in the lower 

 animals is compelled either to abandon her efforts to relieve, 

 or accept artificial aid ; and the act of parturition is one in 

 I. 



