1852-54 
DOGS AS DRAUGHT ANIMALS 
405 
course of Hunterian Lectures, which were still on 
the Anatomy of Fishes, Owen gave a lecture on 
February 10, at the Royal Institution, ‘ On the 
Structure and Homologies of Teeth.’ 
Amongst the correspondence for this year 
there is a letter from the Duke of Argyll asking 
Professor Owen whether he considers that dogs 
are physically unfitted for use as draught animals. 
The Duke mentions the case of the Esquimaux dog, 
and says that there will probably be a discussion 
and division in the House of Lords in a few days 
on the subject. Professor Owen replied that the 
general framework and muscular structure of dogs 
adapted them for draught purposes, and that the 
larger kinds do the work with goodwill and with- 
out distress. But the physical unfitness for habitual 
draught is seen in examining the foot and by 
noting the evident soreness of foot in a dog which 
has run for long on a hard road. He also remarks 
that the case of the Esquimaux breed does not 
apply, because they almost invariably run over 
snow-covered surfaces, and not on hot and hard 
roads such as exist in this country. 
In the summer of 1854 Owen devoted some 
time to the water supply and sewage arrangements 
of Lancaster. Whilst in the North of England 
he attended the Liverpool Meeting of the British 
Association, giving an address on ‘ Anthropo- 
morphous Apes ’ at the ‘New Hall ’ there to an 
audience of between two and three thousand. His 
