is obvious, though killing a dog is next to killing a
child--and he who for pleasure can do the one, is not far off from doing
the other--yet it is mercy then to destroy that existence which must else
be miserably worn away. When there is no chance left for expectation to
cling to, it becomes real charity to do violence to our feelings, in order
that we may spare a suffering creature pain; but when there is a
prospect, however remote, of recovery, I hope there is no veterinary
surgeon who would touch the life. When the animal can stand, we may
anticipate good; and whatever is left of the complaint, we may assure our
employers will vanish as the age increases; for St. Vitus's Dance is
essentially the disease of young dogs. But as recovery progresses, we must
be cautious to do nothing to fling the animal back. No walks must be
enforced, under the pretence of administering exercise. The animal has
enough of that in its ever-jerking limbs; and however well it may grow to
be while the disease lasts, we may rest assured the dog suffering its
attack stands in need of repose.

BOWEL DISEASES.

Continuous with the stomach are the intestines, which are equally subject
to disease, and more exposed to it in an acute form than even the former
viscus. The dog will fill its belly with almost anything, but there is
little that positively agrees with it. Boiled rice or lean meat, &c., and
coarse biscuit, are the best general food; but without exercise, even
these will not support health. The dog requires constant care if it is
deprived of liberty: and those who keep these animals as pets, must submit
to trouble, for though art may do much, it cannot conquer Nature.

The intestines of the dog are peculiar. In the first place, it has no
colon, and all the guts are nearly of one size from the commencement to
the termination; the duodenum and the most posterior portion of the rectum
being the largest, though not so much so as materially to destroy the
appearance of uniformity. The caecum is no more than a small appendage--a
little sac attached to the main tube; it has but one opening, and that is
very diminutive. I think all the food, as in other animals, passes into
and out of this intestine; which, because of its peculiar formation, is
therefore particularly liable to be disordered. In the dog which has died
of intestinal disease, the caecum is almost invariably found enlarged and
inflamed. In it, I imagine, the majority of bowel