6M4 
MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY. 
local circumstances, domestication, and breeding; conse¬ 
quently, it is improper to consider and call pointers, terriers, 
mastiffs, and greyhounds species , as they are mere varieties. 
The parent stock from which all our domesticated races have 
sprung, has long been a dispute among naturalists, and is at 
this time an unsettled point. Buffon was of opinion that 
the shepherds’ dog was the progenitor of them all. 
Dogs in a domesticated condition are liable to a variety 
of diseases; but, above all others, what has been termed 
canine madness, or hydrophobia, is the worst, and most to 
be dreaded by mankind. They are, besides, subject to 
many complaints, in some respects similar to those of the 
human body. We believe there is none more common with 
them than pulmonary consumption and worm complaints, 
diseases to which mankind in this country are very liable. 
Our friend, Mr. Mackenzie, keeper of the anatomical mu¬ 
seum in the University of Edinburgh, an expert anatomist 
and physiologist, concurs with me in this opinion, and in¬ 
forms me that he has made many dissections of dogs, and 
found diseased lungs very prevalent in them. This is 
chiefly to be attributed to sleeping in damp situations, and 
in the open air, at times, when they are for the most part 
accustomed to be kept comfortable and dry in a house. 
Some families of dogs are constitutionally liable to this dis¬ 
order; and sportsmen would do well to avoid breeding fiom 
a stock predisposed to consumption. 
