ted from the mother,
or all the young should be born dead, Nature may not immediately
accommodate herself to the circumstances. In such cases, the milk should
be withdrawn three times daily; a dose of opening medicine should be
administered, and the food should be spare. A few days' attention will be
required; but the matter, if neglected, causes much suffering, and very
frequently lays the foundation for future evil.

Falling of the vagina, or membrane lining the passage to the womb, is
sometimes witnessed in animals that are much confined, and consequently of
a debilitated habit. Creatures so savage as to be dangerous, and which,
therefore, cannot be properly exercised, are most subject to it; and I
have in the greater number of instances met with it in high-bred
bull-bitches of that disposition.

The reason of this is, the bull-dog ranks as an entirely artificial
creation. In proof of this stands the well-known fact, that unless the
breed be sedulously kept up, it is apt to degenerate, or to become
extinct. Old breeders even now say, the ancient kind of English bull-dog
is nowhere to be found. But take another proof. We want no anatomical
knowledge or prejudice: in him formation is to be judged. Let the reader
look at the head of the animal depicted on page 404. Is not the cranium a
malformation? Do not the habits of the animal prove it to be a pampered
creation? It is not generally known, that the disposition of the genuine
bull-dog is too fond. It will fondle upon any stranger; and yet, contrary
to the general custom of its race, it displays small preference for its
master. It will fondle a human being as though its heart would burst with
affection; but upon the slightest excitement--often upon a sudden
sound--it will fly at and mangle the hand that was caressing it. Then the
hold taken by this animal is more retentive than is strictly natural. It
will fix upon an object, and frequently suffer itself to be dismembered
before it will let go its hold, although its master's voice be
energetically raised to command it. Do not these traits bespeak the being
formed rather by man's malice, than created by Nature's goodness? Look at
the likeness of the beast, and say how far it resembles the mild,
graceful, and generous race to which it outwardly belongs.

It is the high, or rather perverted, state in which the breed is kept,
that subjects them to accidents; it is the pampered condition in which
these antipodes to beauty