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 a sign 
of approaching parturition, as its secretion frequently takes 
place after copulation, or cestrum without the latter, towards 
and at the period of what should have terminated pregnancy. 
' Inthe 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. Someanimals carry their young so close, 
ze. 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 wish 
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 diffidence 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 
