to attack. The bark also is not by any means monotonous, but
is capable of infinite variety. The cries of the animal are remarkably
modulated; but the soft and gentle sounds it can emit when inclined to
coax its master, or answering to the excess of pleasure which his caresses
create, are full of natural music. The dog's voice is not to my ear less
beautiful than the song of a bird; but more delightful, because it is more
full of meaning. The nightingale has but one song, which it constantly
repeats. The cur has many tuneful notes, with which it responds to my
attentions. Music has been recognised in the tongues of the pack, but I
have heard harmony more delightful from the hound in my home. I like to
hear the dog's voice, especially when not too loud, and having studied it,
I have often wondered the animal did not speak. There can be little doubt
it would be able to frame words if it possessed the power to comprehend
their meaning; but the high intelligence of the creature unfits it for
parrot-like mimicry. The dog is, in all it does, guided by its reason, and
it performs no act without a reasonable motive. If any physical incapacity
exist, it is to be found rather in the formation of the mouth than in the
construction of the larynx, which presents no explanation of the dog's
inability to frame definite sounds like words.

The part is rarely the seat of acute disease. In rabies, especially of
the dumb kind, it is acutely affected; but of that form of disorder the
writer will have to speak in another place. Of acute laryngitis, as met
with commonly in the horse, I have not seen an example in the dog, and
therefore I shall not here say anything about it. Of chronic disease of
the larynx there is no lack of instances. These are brought to us
frequently, and generally are submitted to our notice as cases of
continued or confirmed cough. Cough, however, is but a symptom; and may be
no more than a sympathetic effect induced by the derangement of a distant
structure. When it is caused by the condition of the larynx, it has a deep
sound, which is never entirely changed in character, however much pain
induces the animal to suppress it. It is essentially the same in every
stage, though it may be more or less full or loud, according to the state
of the air passage.

This cough may start up from sympathy; but then it is always less
sonorous, harsh, and grating. It is also less spasmodic, and likewise less
the consequence of partic