“Now the hill, the hedge, are green,
Now the warbler’s throat’s in tune,
Blithsome is the verdant scene,
Brightened by the beams of noon.”
It was a sultry summer’s day, and Trimbush and myself were luxuriating
under the wide-spreading and deep shade of a walnut tree growing near
the kennel. Five or six of our companions, on the free list, like
ourselves, were lounging about in the coolest spots, and their only
occasional signs of life, as they laid upon the ground, consisted in
brushing the buzzing flies from their nostrils and hides, and, now and
then, making a snap at their enemies. Wearied, at length, with my own
laziness, I made an effort to draw Trimbush into conversation, by
asking him the cause of kennel lameness.
The old hound rolled on his side, and giving a wide yawn, stretched out
his legs as far as possible, with his stern stiffly turned over his
back.
“That’s comfortable,” said he, “very. And so you wish to learn the
cause of one of the greatest afflictions that can visit us?”
“Yes,” rejoined I, “it is my wish to know everything concerning our
interests. For if mankind be the proper study for man, so must hounds
and hunting be the proper study for me.”
“A sensible remark,” returned my companion; “and as you are always
ready to listen, there can be no doubt but that you’ll attain
proficiency.”
“I’m greatly obliged for your encouragement,” added I.
“I remember two seasons ago,” said Trimbush, “hearing Tom Holt read
aloud from _The Sporting Magazine_ a remarkably sensible article on
the subject you wish to be informed about, and it made so deep an
impression that I can now repeat it nearly word for word.”
“I’m all attention,” I replied.
My friend cleared his throat, and then commenced.
“Peculiar conditions of the atmosphere have generally the effect of
some disorders, which attack men and animals to so great an extent as
to be denominated the prevailing diseases of the time--such as cholera,
typhus fever, influenza, and many others. These results are not always
contemporary with the weather, which in reality produces them. Indeed,
they most frequently make their appearance some little time after a
change of temperature has taken place, by which certain influences
have been established, which become the sources of disorder in the
functions of animal economy. Such disorders as those which are peculiar
to any particular districts cannot fail to receive an impulse from
such a season as the one we have lately experienced. Kennel lameness
ranks among the number as likely to be one over which these powers may
be expected to have a very considerable control. Much has been said
and much has been written on the subject, and many possibilities have
been suggested, and remedies proposed, which have so little reason for
their basis, that it appears extraordinary how they could ever have
entered the brain of reasonable and thinking men: but before going
into a detail, I will introduce a few remarks on endemic diseases,
for the purpose of more clearly establishing the point, ‘that certain
situations produce the complaint, and will for ever be the cause of
its continuance so long as those situations are preserved’; and also
that certain modes of treatment are the causes of its prevailing in
some instances with a greater degree of inveteracy. Indeed I have no
hesitation in declaring, that bad management will, even on healthy
sites, produce a modified degree of rheumatism, which assumes the name
of kennel lameness.
“There are certain diseases which afflict the human body, and which
are found to rage in particular localities, termed endemic. They are
attributable to some peculiarities of the soil, the air, the food,
and in some instances of the habits of the inhabitants. Poverty, want
of cleanliness, and, the consequence of poverty, bad and insufficient
food and raiment, may be enumerated among the most conspicuous causes.
A removal of them will naturally be followed by the disappearance
of the endemic. So with hounds: if a slight degree of rheumatism
exists, produced by irregular treatment, alter the treatment, and if
those already affected do not recover, the list of invalids will not
be augmented by its appearance in fresh subjects. Some may oppose me
on this point, by observing, if bad management produces the complaint
in a slight degree, may it not do so in a greater? To this I answer
distinctly, No; inasmuch as in some kennels the disorder has never been
known to emanate, but that unsound hounds brought from other kennels
have recovered: besides which, there are many kennels in which the
disorder rages where the hounds are treated precisely upon the same
system as in establishments which are perfectly free from it.
“It is well known to what an extent various diseases, such as
cutaneous complaints and scurvy, have identified themselves with
peculiar situations, more especially after certain seasons. Medical
practitioners are of opinion, that, for the thoroughly comprehending
the nature and the cure of endemical diseases, an accurate study of
topography is essentially necessary. The inhabitants of countries or
places where diseases prevail endemically are very often exempted from
other serious indispositions; and the natives of a country or district
frequently become inured by habit to influences which at once manifest
their power over newly-imported strangers, especially in tropical
regions. In countries inhabited by different races of men, the same
circumstances do not always produce the same effects upon different
varieties. The water of the Seine produces disorder in the Londoner, to
which the Parisian, who is accustomed to it, is exempt. The treatment
also of similar diseases often requires to be very different in
consequence of the locality where it appears, and also the constitution
and habits of the patient.
“The miasmata, or particles which emanate from the surface of
the earth, produce marked effects upon the human constitution in
those places where they prevail. The districts where they are most
conspicuous are the marshes, fens and swamps in Lincolnshire,
Cambridgeshire, and Essex: intermitting fevers and agues are the
consequence. Although marshy districts are pre-eminently capable of
engendering miasmata, they are not exclusively so: the result of
numerous observations proves that the circumstances essential to this
phenomenon are the presence of water, or moisture, and the influence
of solar heat: when the quantity of water is great at any particular
time, the effects do not manifest themselves until it subsides. Many
circumstances are supposed to influence the development of the effects
of these exhalations. It is also asserted, that it has sometimes been
carried to considerable distances, to situations naturally healthy,
by currents of air. This is a consideration of vast importance in
forming an opinion upon the fact of kennel lameness being indigenous
to certain situations, and shows most clearly how little benefit
can be anticipated in those cases where the malady is severe, by
the interposition of impervious concretes, asphaltum, and such like
preparations.
“It has been asserted that attacks of paralysis have been mistaken
for kennel lameness. How such mistakes can have originated with any
persons conversant with the characteristics of the latter malady, it
is difficult to conceive, unless that term is intended to comprehend
all disorders in which lameness is apparent. If so, ere long, we
shall have hounds, when lamed by thorns or bruises, included in the
list. Kennel lameness, properly so termed, is intended to convey the
idea of a malady whose distinctive symptoms are so identically similar
to rheumatism, that there appears scarcely any visible reason why it
should be distinguished by any other term; but as it has now acquired
a standing in the huntsman’s nomenclature, it would be presumption
to attempt to displace it: nevertheless, the term rheumatism would
be quite as applicable and more universally comprehended. Before a
physiologist pronounces to what class a disorder belongs, and before a
physician attempts to prescribe a remedy for its cure, it is requisite
to investigate the symptoms which exist. Now the symptoms of paralysis
and rheumatism are so distinctly at variance, that it is utterly
impossible to fall under a mistake. Paralysis is a nervous affection,
in which the nerves, acting on the muscles, interrupt their motion,
relaxing their tone and fibre, and very frequently distorting some
particular limb. Rheumatism is a rigid or contracted state of the
muscles, attended with a slight inflammatory condition of the tissue
which covers the muscles, having the effect, when the animal has been
some time at rest, of creating a certain degree of adhesion. Thus a
hound badly affected with kennel lameness, on first being taken out, is
so stiff and sore as scarcely to be able to move--a state in which I
have seen so many, that the remembrance is accompanied with feelings of
commiseration and pity that would prompt me to any trouble or exertion
that would produce the effect of subduing the complaint. When hounds
thus disordered have been in motion a short time, so as to increase
the circulation of the blood, the extreme rigidity or stiffness goes
off to a certain extent, dependent upon the violence of the attack.
But paralytic affections would not be attended with any such results:
exercise would rather tend to increase than to improve the capabilities
of action.
“I have very little doubt but the severe work which staghounds
occasionally undergo, and the numerous changes of temperature which
they have to contend against, are causes for the aggravation of this
malady. A foxhound generally has some preparatory exercise, besides
the exertion of going to covert, which latter is equivalent to the
staghound going to the place of meeting. The former has to draw for
and to find his fox, in which effort his powers are more gradually
brought into play, and the circulation of his blood is more rationally
increased; but the staghound is laid on to the scent of his game
without any preparatory excitement of the system, when he immediately
goes to work, straining every nerve in his ardour for the chase, and
very frequently maintains those efforts during the period of several
hours; and frequently, when in an evident state of exhaustion, a
time when immersion is dangerous, he plunges into rivers, canals, or
lakes--places which stags have such inordinate propensities for when
severely pressed.
“The high and stimulating food, which is no doubt found necessary to
maintain condition during a long chase, is another cause for symptoms
of kennel lameness making their appearance with staghounds. The
circumstance of the canine species not throwing off perspirable matter
through the pores of the skin, appears to be a very powerful reason why
they are so susceptible of rheumatic affections, and more especially
that it should assume a chronic character when once introduced into
the system. It is asserted that the dog perspires through the tongue;
admitting that as a fact, it is to a very trifling extent, and not
equivalent to the vast effusion of violent perspiration which must
ensue from the laborious exertions of the chase, providing a hound
generates an equivalent proportion according to his bulk that either a
man or a horse does under similar efforts; besides which, making its
escape from one part only, the general relief to the animal cannot
be equivalent to that which is experienced by those animals who have
outlets in the immediate proximity of almost every muscle. It is very
evident that a great portion of the extraneous fluid, which in some
animals flies off in perspiration, is by the hound voided in urine. The
vast quantity which he passes is a proof of this, and it is a reason
why medicines acting upon the urinary functions should be resorted to,
in cases of kennel lameness, as a palliative.
“Seeing the announcement some months ago that ‘our right trusty
and well-beloved friend’ and faithful correspondent, RINGWOOD, had
forwarded his opinions and suggestions on the subject of Kennel
Lameness, and appreciating most highly his experience on sporting
subjects, I was buoyed up with the hope that his discoveries would have
thrown some new light on the case; but was much disappointed at reading
his recommendations to try the effect of fires in the lodging-rooms.
Knowing them to have been tried by Sir B. Graham, Mr. Boycott, also in
the kennels occupied by Mr. Nicol, I believe also by Lord Kintore, with
prejudicial consequences, it only remains to intimate that the practice
is incompatible. Moreover, the diuretic tendency which it produces, in
encouraging hounds to perform their evacuations in the lodging-rooms,
instead of in the yards, is a reason why the adoption of fires, however
secured, in kennels, cannot be carried out consistently with the
usual discipline and necessary observance of cleanliness. One of the
most positive cases in proof, that on some occasions kennel lameness
proceeds entirely from the unhealthy situation of their habitation, is
that of Mr. Foljambe. With the utmost attention to kennel management,
a long series of years passed with nothing but disappointment and
vexation to crown the most liberal and judicious experiments. Nothing
that human skill could suggest or accomplish was left untried, until at
length it was determined to remove the hounds to a kennel at another
part of the country, where, under precisely the same management, they
are sound and well.
“In conversation with a friend a short time since, a M. F. H., he
made the remark, that if I could make the discovery of a cure for
this disorder, I should be entitled to honors and distinctions too
superfluous to mention. My reply was simply this: ‘A remedy has been
discovered, not by myself, for I desire no merit which I am not
entitled to, but it is clearly proved that removal to a healthy site
will effect all that is desired.’ The removal must not, however, be
undertaken without mature consideration, in order to ascertain if the
proposed new situation is perfectly free from the causes which produce
the disorder. Clay soils may be denominated the most eligible; light
sandy soils and light soils on chalk, are the worst. Any attempt to
cure the complaint on a situation which so evidently engenders it,
is like trying to heal a wound while the substance which created it
remains within. Removal on the first discovery that the kennel is
so located as to be injurious will most assuredly be found the most
satisfactory, and, in the end, the most economical determination.”
I managed to keep myself from a most seductive doze during my
companion’s somewhat prosy delivery; but scarcely had he finished, than
I was in the land of dreams, and toying with
“The children of an idle brain,
Begot of nothing but vain fantasy.”