THE DOG, 



mouth, and drinkin^g it great deal of watev, but act issuing 

 from his hiding-place to seek food. 



" His appetites are altered. Hair, straw, dirt, filth, tar, 

 shavings, stones, the most noisome and unnatural substances 

 are the deUcaoies for which the poor dog, changed by disease, 

 longs and swallows in hope to ease his burning stomach. Still, 

 he does not desire to bite mankind ; he rather endeavours to 

 avoid society; he takes long journeys of thirty or forty miles in 

 extent, and lengthened by all kinds of accidents, to vent his 

 restless desire for motion. When on these journeys he does 

 not walk. This would be too formal and measured a pace for 

 an animal whose whole frame quivers with excitement. He 

 does not run. ThaJ would be too great an exertion for a 

 creature whose body is the abode of a deadly sickness; He pro- 

 ceeds in a slouching manner, in a kind of trot, a movement 

 neither run nor walk, and his aspect is dejected. His eyes do 

 not glare, but are dull and retracted. His appeatance is very 

 characteristic, and if once s6en can never afterwards be mis- 

 taken. In this state he will travel the most dusty roads, his 

 tongue hanging dry from his open mouth, from which, however, 

 there drops no foaift.. His course is not straight. How could 

 it be, since it is doubtful whether at these periods he can 

 see at all P His desire is to journey unnoticed. If no one 

 notices him, he gladly passes on. He is very HI. He cannot 

 stay to bite. If, nevertheless, anything opposes his progress, 

 he will, as if by impulse, snap — as a man in a similar state 

 might strike, and tell the person ' to get out of his way.' He 

 may take his road across a field, in which there are a flock of 

 sheep. Could these creatures only make room for him and 

 stand motionless, the dog would pass on and leave them behind 

 uninjured. But they begin to run, and at the sound the dog 

 pricks up his ears. His entire aspect changes. Eage takes 

 possession of him. What made that noise P He pursues it 

 with all the energy of madness. He files at one ; then at 

 another. He does not mangle, nor is his bite simply considered 

 terrible. He cannot pause to tear the creature he has bitten. 

 He snaps, and then rushes onward, till, fairly exhausted, and 

 unable longer to follow, he sinks down, and the sheep pass for- 

 ward to be no more molested. 



" He may be slain while on these excursions ; but if he escapes 

 he returns home and seeks the darkness and quiet of his for- 

 mer abode. His thirst increases, but with it comes the swelling 

 of the throat. He wiU plunge his head into water, so ravenoiis 

 40 . -H 



