J84 THE DISEASES OF THE DOG. 



administration of stimulants, such as cubebs, cantharides, 

 &c., the latter in the injection of irritant substances into 

 the genital passages ; sometimes the bitch, is forcibly com- 

 pelled to receive attentions of the male. These practices 

 are very liable to produce local or nervous disorder, and 

 cannot be too strongly condemned ; if a bitch, which, it is 

 desired should breed shows no symptoms of sexual excite- 

 ment in the ordinary course of things, and no defect in 

 her genital organs is appreciable, it is well to try the 

 effects of a change in her system of living. Thus, an 

 over-fed petted animal should be put gradually on less 

 food and given regular exercise, or an excessively active 

 hard-fed animal be put on stimulating diet and kept quiet. 

 These measures will generally have the desired result. 

 Some bitches are characterised by an almost constant 

 desire for the male ; in them there is probably some local 

 irritation of the genitals, or there may be dropsy of the 

 ovaries. This latter, however, is seldom present in the 

 bitch. The bitch during oestrum and pregnancy is 

 especially liable to mental impressions; whereby the race 

 characters of the progeny may become vitiated. The 

 sexual excitements of this animal are closely associated 

 with nervous disorders. 



Peegnancy is detectable about the fourth week; the 

 young are sometimes to be felt on abdominal exploration 

 about this time ; the belly begins to get full and round, 

 and the teats to enlarge. The belly drops towards the 

 seventh week and parturition occurs about the ninth week 

 after impregnation, the range of duration of pregnancy 

 being put by Fleming at fifty-five to seventy days. The 

 number of young at a birth is generally seven or eight, 

 but ranges from one up to nineteen, occasionally even more. 

 They are some accommodated in each uterine horn, the 

 remainder in the body of the womb. Each is developed 

 in its own set of membranes, the placenta being a zone 

 around the centre of the body of the young animal. The 

 membranes and foetus are expelled simultaneously, the 

 pups putting in an appearance at intervals ranging from a 

 quarter of an hour to an hour, or even longer. The 



