General Diseases. 343. 



those generally distorted. The facial bones are not unfre- 

 quently very prominent or bulging, giving the countenance 

 a swollen appearance. The loins are generally narrow,, 

 tl^e hocks bent in and enlarged, giving the hind-parts an 

 undeveloped or wasted look (Fig. 32). The coat is staring 

 and harsh, the mucous membranes are pallid, the sclerotic 

 of the eye being particularly white, and the animal, taking 

 it altogether, is an unthrifty, stunted, miserable-looking 

 object. 



I have mentioned iflter-breeding as influential in the 

 production of rickets, and in addition, or independent of 

 this evil, may be named bad food, impure air, close confine- 

 ment, and overfeeding — especially with matter deficient in 

 bone-making properties, — or insufficient food. Remove,, 

 however, all these predisposing causes, allow good food and 

 plentiful fresh air, and cleanliness, but deny exercise, and the 

 result, i.e., so far as the deformity of limbs is concerned, 

 will be precisely the same — not from any deficiency in the 

 structural proportion of bone, but from neglecting rules 

 necessary for symmetrical and proportionate growth. 

 Animals so circumstanced are like unpruned trees — the 

 trunk is being fed and the branches allowed to grow as 

 they may. The inclination of heavily-framed puppies to 

 lie down, if not at liberty, is well known, and this is 

 especially the case with mastiffs. The consequence is that 

 the body becomes too heavy for the limbs to support ; the 

 latter, the bones of which it must be remembered are not 

 at this age set, give way under the superincumbent weight, 

 knuckle over or bend outwards ; and it is this condition, 

 arising from the circumstances named, which is frequently 

 mistaken by breeders and rearers of dogs for rickets. 



Rickets in the human subject involves bones other than 

 those supporting weight, hence general deformity. This is 

 rarely or ever the case with dogs (excepting, as mentioned, 

 in the facial bones), more particularly as regards the ribs 

 and spinal column ;. therefore it may be taken as a general 



