144 Blood Diseases. 
the elements necessary for bone formation, as lime water, 
finely ground bones or egg shells, good oatmeal porridge 
forming the medium as well as the bulk of the daily food. 
Cod-liver oil, glycerine, or linseed oil should be variously 
alternated with the foregoing to promote assimilation, 
and impart warmth. Additional advantages will be 
derived from daily, but suitable and gentle exercise. 
As a general medicine, the following may be advan- 
tageous :—Cod-liver oil, or linseed oil, and lime water, 
of each 8 fluid ounces; solution of dialised iron, one 
fluid ounce; aromatic spirit of ammonia, one fluid 
ounce. Mix the oil and lime water together and shake 
well; néxt add the ammonia and again agitate; finally 
put in the iron solution and mix. The dose should vary 
from one teaspoonful to a tablespoonful twice a day, 
age and size of the patient being considered. 
Itremains to be stated with emphasis that ricketty dogs 
should not be used for breeding purposes. Male and female 
alike hand down the defects and hereditary taint, which 
effectually frustrate the designs of the owner to improve 
his animals through that means. 
Inter-breeding, or breeding from animals of close con- 
sanguinity is also set down as the cause or origin of 
rickets as well as many other diseases. This is un- 
doubtedly true when one or both parents are unsound 
from existing disease. We need to remember that a 
close system of in-breeding has given us our famous 
flocks and herds, as well as unrivalled studs of the finest 
horses. A true system of in-breeding is based on careful 
selection of the healthiest as well as the best formed 
animals, and the results are inevitably favourable, even 
with animals of close consanguinity. Health, hardi- 
hood, vigour, conformation, &c., are fortunately as 
hereditary as the taint of scrofula, or any other specific 
disease, the value of the progeny being in direct ratio to 
the soundness or otherwise of the parents. 
Crooked or Bandy Legs are peculiarly common to 
some breeds of dogs, and of late years the deformity has 
gradually come to be esteemed as a peculiarity of breed. 
The Dachshund and Basset Hound are of this class, 
