666 
MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY. 
be formed with a natural desire for a particular sort of food, 
the use of which would prove destructive to some of his 
faculties. 
Although, however, the dog is strictly a carnivorous ani¬ 
mal, yet he can subsist on many kinds of food ; which is 
the case, also, with various other animals more highly carni¬ 
vorous in their nature. It has been said of man himself, 
that feeding on flesh destroys his sense of smell in some de¬ 
gree ; and in support of this statement it is alleged, that 
certain natives of India, who feed entirely on grain, have the 
olfactory sense in such a degree of perfection, that they can 
distinguish the smell of the water of one spring from that 
of another. But such accuracy of discrimination has been 
satisfactorily ascertained to be entirely the result of practice. 
The nutriment best adapted for sporting dogs, so as to 
enable them to perform their work well, should consist of at 
least two-thirds of flesh, with a judicious mixture of farina¬ 
ceous vegetables. It is an established fact, that dogs in a 
domesticated state invariably become lean if fed entirely 
upon flesh. 
Good water is of great consequence to the health of dogs, 
as they drink frequently and copiously, and particularly 
setters; but the idea that dogs being kept long without 
water produces canine madness, is a vulgar prejudice. 
The dog is naturally a voracious animal; and yet he can 
endure hunger for a very great length of time, and be 
brought by habit to subsist on a very scanty meal. In the 
Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences, it is mentioned, that a 
bitch which was forgot in a country house, where she had 
access to no other nourishment, lived forty days on the wool 
of an old mattress, which she had torn to pieces. 
An extraordinary instance of a similar kind occurred with 
a terrier bitch belonging to a friend of my own. One day. 
