Fact against fiction. The habits and treatment of animals practically considered; hydrophobia and distemper, with some remarks on Darwin

Front matter

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FACT AGAINST FICTION.

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Preface

This work ought to have been published in the autumn of 1872. Delay arose from no fault of the author, but highly detrimental to him from an author’s point of view, as a season was thus lost at a time when the subject of his work, and matters therein discussed, were awakening a wide interest, and creating a demand for an explanation of the author’s practical positions.

With regard to one important subject treated of in this work, much mischievous inconvenience has arisen from my having deemed it a civil duty to reply to questions asked me in weekly papers. Upon the appearance of those u replies to correspondents” there arose much vitupera¬ tion, of course from anonymous writers, having apparently little faith in the respectability of their real names.

In the body of this work I have explained that even after vaccination a dog may have common distemper, either by contact or inocula¬ tion, a second time ; but always, in that case, in a very mitigated form.

PKEFACE.

• • •

Yin

It was this conviction, and to avoid this possi¬ bility, that made me take special care that the young hounds, . that had come into kennel for the 66 entry,5’ could by no means get into contact, nose to nose, with the body of old hounds.

“ Hydrophobia,5’ happily, is extremely rare ; and, wide as the belief is in that silly term “ rabies,” which men under red feathers would have us believe to be the disease incurable, or only to be treated with pills of lead, where is there a man who has dog-kennels enough at his command to house or put up the dogs that might be sent him for experiment or in number similar to those in my possession ?

Unless each dog has a certificate from a sensible owner to say whether or not he had had the distem¬ per, or had been vaccinated to prevent his having it, the saliva from the dog’s jaws would tell no decided tale, so far as concerns madness from distemper, hydrophobia, or any other insanity whatever.

It may be all very well to request people, all of whom have an inflammatory dread of the “ill name that hangs a dog,55 to take saliva from his jaws ; but, having myself been a constant atten¬ dant on hundreds of cases annually, for more than half a century, I know the dread of servants, even those best trained to obedience, when told to touch a hound or dog afflicted Avith any sort of insanity , subjecting it to that accursed and allincluding appellation, “a ntad dog.”

PREFACE.

IX

Let the “ Red Feather” ask his superior, the u Green Feather,” if in the human race insanity does not manifest itself in a hundred different directions. The thinking, and, to a great extent, reasoning , brains of animals, — of the dog espe¬ cially, — are just as liable to varied forms of aberration as those of the human race. IIow foolish, then, how cruel to timid men, nervous women, and young children, to horse-slioe their minds with a nailed and clinched horror that every so-called u mad dog” they see, brings de¬ struction and death in a single bite.

In the following pages there is a story of a dog supposed to be mad with hydrophobia, and a sentinel of the Guards, whose box in St. James’s Park was beneath the walls of my father’s garden, close to Spring Gardens passage. That tale demonstrates the madness of a collected mob, and the wise and gentle determination of a poor, little, apparently friendless girl, in rescuing her favourite from the insane cruelty of a crowd, and the presented bayonet of a soldier, which was about to dislodge the forlorn little four-footed intruder from the sentry-box, where it had sought safety from its pursuers in its terror and distress.

In the cause of humanity, and in defence of the poor dog, I deeply regret to say that it lias more than once become known to me, that, for the sake of a u lark,” the lowest of the lower orders, when able to steal or entice a dog into

X

PREFACE.

their baneful possession, have anointed his limbs, or more sensitive parts of the frame, with a mixture denominated u horse oils.” Then, if in a town or populous place, they have turned this poor agonized animal out of doors, for the time essentially mad , but no more mad, from any disease fatal to himself or any other creature, than a newly-born lamb. The appearance of this poor animal, particularly when the mind of a population has been frightfully imposed on, then gives rise to a mischievously designed cry and to an exciting chase, always acceptable to the lowest of the low. Policemen follow in cabs, kill an innocent dog, and get cheered for their courage. The attention of the Police, and the Society for the Protection of Animals, had better have punished the biped villains, and spared the poor quadruped, whose temporary madness emanated from designing man.

Grantley F. Berkeley.

Introduction

It is usual for authors, I know not why, to begin their work with an Introduction, intimating to hoped-for readers the contents of the consecutive pages, briefly, but still in a manner to disclose the object and design of the author. If sensation be the object, the pen assumes to be dipped in tears, love and murder balance in the scale, and the only thing kept out of sight is, whether happiness or horror is to kick the beam.

My last work but one went to its second edition on the evening after the morning of its birth,-— so that, at least, appears to have been a thriving bantling of the brain. My next work, ‘ Tales of Life and Death/ met with a flattering reception, though the guardian to whose care the infant was entrusted “flew in the face of the family,” — to quote Lord Eldon’s dictum on another matter, — u neglected the interests of the minor,” and, by so doing, according to that puisne Judge,

Xll

INTRODUCTION.

committed a literary crime deserving the most serious reprehension.

This present work needs no introduction from me, nor much guardianship, Nature being botli its nurse and guardian. Fiction u fashes not my brain,” nor is there a plot, save a garden-plot, to clog by its influence the smooth course of my intentions.

My preceptress, Nature, sits kindly by me. If I need a word of affection, gentle and sublime, I have only to listen to the dear birds or the fall of the murmuring water ; if, on the contrary, the hasty syllables of action suit my mood, I seem to hear the mighty roar of the beast at bay, — I recall the dangerous beauty of the bison’s or the wild boar’s charge, and the stern self-reliance which the dan¬ gerous hour demands from man. Sweet sounds, harsh sounds, pleasant to the sportsman’s ear, these are my counsellors ; and if I have to be very gentle in narration, then, in the flowers of my garden I can bury my face, inhale their sweet essence, and from that source draw the few poetical expressions my truthful task demands.

I write of Nature and her beautiful behests, her works of mystery, from the elephant and lion down

INTRODUCTION.

XUI to the tiniest insect that labours in its appointed calling’, and, to its utmost power, defends its young to its little life.

If I cannot find aid from so wide a source of inspiration, then ami “ poor indeed.’5 But “my mind does not fail me,55 therefore “ I fear no fall/5 and in full reliance on my theme, — a practical naturalist, a sportsman, and a worshipper of Nature,

• — I invite the attention of the reading public, and most of all the kind notice of her to whom I have dedicated this work, the graceful owner of a heart which to me has never deviated in its friendly feel¬ ings, nor altered with the change which constantly perverts the world.

When one of the objects at which I have aimed in the following pages is to remove from the human mind a causeless apprehension of dreadful death, which * often tends to bring about the very result from which the nervous mind most shrinks, surely that attempt may ask a graceful patronage, and meet a kind reception from the gentler sex.* When,

* See the result of the inquest by the Liverpool Coroner on the body of James Cullen, as reported in the Macclesfield Courier , of the 9th of May. A doctor who had been called in claimed this death to have arisen from “ hydrophobia,” but the post-morteni examination gave the result of “died from an ulcer in the throat.”

XIV

INTRODUCTION.

combined with this object, is my desire, to win for that most affectionate and faithful companion of man and woman, the dog, more merciful kindness in an ailing hour, surely if I cannot “ command success,” I shall, at least, have done well in the “ endeavour to deserve it.” With that hope I proceed to the Augean task before me.

To sweep away deep-rooted prejudice, to combat errors imbibed in nursery hours, to refute the sense¬ less doctrines promulgated by old women of all sorts, whether of the fabulous broom-bestriding order, or those of the Veterinary College, who do not confine their practice to the ailments of troophorses, — surely this is a task that might daunt my energy ; but I bring to it the long experience of an eventful life, and bear a banner on which the guiding hand of Nature has inscribed “Love, kind¬ ness, and humanity to man and brute,” and a fear of neither the one nor the other.

Thus armed “ I fear no failure and I dread no fall,” but leave my work to the judgment of the public, and court for it the closest investigation.

CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

CHAP. PAGE

I. Darwin and Delusion . 1

II. Hunting, and Hiding to Hounds . . . .19

III. Breeding and Hunting of Foxhounds . . .65

IV. On Distemper and Madness among Hounds . 103

V. Diseases to which Hounds are Liable . .136

VI. Effects of Physic on Hound and Dog — Kennel

Discipline — The Fox . 176

VII. Fallacies and Facts . . . . . .195

VIII. Instinct and Reason in Dogs, Birds, Fishes, etc. 220 IX. Reason in the Dog .... . . 250

X. The Use of Dogs . 285

XI. Scent and Smell Contrasted .... 305

XII. The difficlty of dealing with Panics . .330

FACT AGAINST FICTION.

Chapter I. Darwin And Delusion

Mr. Darwin’s clever Book on “ The Origin of Species ” — Must we give up all the pleasant illusions of our Childhood? — Early Impressions — Man and Ape — Dog — Tails — Sincerity of Tails — A Supposed Case — Fossil Remains — Curious Fact — Traveller’s Tales — Apollo and the Nine — Beards versus Legs — Tale of the Lady and the Frog — Tales to be cautiously received — Truth-telling Tails.

When a man sits clown to write on sport, on hounds and horses, on riding, shooting and fishing, and on the natural history of the living things that render beautiful this sunny wrorld and tempt him Out to brave the gloom and inclemency of winter, his ideas ought to be based on practical experience. He should cease to think of the dictum of the bygone historian, and cast from his mind every obsolete prejudice. My endeavour thus to under¬ take the task in hand has been somewhat baffled by

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FACTS AGAINST FICTION.

the clover and elaborate work of Darwin on u The Descent of Man.1’

Have the soft ideas of our childhood been made the field of imposition ? Has the expanding mind of boyhood been led into a false path simply to find it a road to ruin ? Was all that was instilled during the most plastic period of his increasing intelligence merely a sowing of chaff? and is the man to stand rudely reft of all his earliest impres¬ sions ? Is he to look upon himself only as an improved (?) and more vicious ape or jelly-fish? — evil purpose and evil passion increasing side by side with the education of the brain, with the loss of his hairy coat, and the abduction of his tail !

As a child and boy my mind was, of course, to some extent, impressed by the first nursery notions of religion— by the rude psalmody then sung, in country churches, through the noses of noteless boys and girls. But presumption was always a part of my character, as it ought to be in that of every boy or man who wishes to succeed in anything; for, if either man or boy says to his tmdaring self, —

“Fain would I climb but that I fear to fall,”

the reply is obvious,—

“ If thy mind fail thee, do not climb at all.”

DARWIN AND DELUSION.

Presumption and assumption are widely different ; and I would say to all my juniors, “ Assume nothing, but presume to hope and ask for all.”

Being, then, as I have said, a presumptuous boy, my nature inclined me to think for myself ; but this inclination, whenever it showed itself in a desire to question the wisdom of my elders, was immediately repressed, and impressed , by a nut stick, which I did not much care for, but, worse still, by threats that if I did not mend I should eventually be sent to reside with a demon whom Darwin, the Duke of Somerset, and other noble and learned men, have since declared to be a ruminat¬ ing animal or a myth. When grown to manhood, when those I loved with all my heart and soul (I use this word without fear of Darwin or the Devil) had revolved with a revolving world, reversed their position towards me, and reft of all the sunshine they could cloud the heart once so joyous, even then my mind would turn to those earlier hours, with a yearning to go back to them, with a singleness of purpose, and a deep devotion, perhaps, seldom felt in man’s estate.

The shock was rude that shook my faith in the threatened horrors to be expected from that black

FACTS AGAINST FICTION.

demon who, as boys, in our dramatic performance of Punch, we used to introduce to our audience as descending from above (an error, I grant), with a taper at his back to shine behind his red silk eyes, a pitchfork in his hand, a cloven foot stuck mis¬ chievously out, and a tail, angrily and severely forked, set up behind him, towering far above his head. In this demoniacal representation of the so-called chastiser of sin, I firmly believed. My tutor — Heaven rest his soul ! — never attempted to undeceive me ; nor did my nurses, nor any one else. They, I suppose, like the priests of old and the Jesuits now, saw that we feared the imaginary monster, and found our childish belief in tail and pitchfork a useful restraint to keep us from mischief.

Alas! that the demon with his cloven foot, the hellish tails, and nursery talcs, should all have been swept away by the damnable* doctrines of Darwin, and even the milder charity of the Duke of Somerset ! Reft of my early fond belief, shocked, astonished, and in some lingering doubt,

Reader, do not tliink I swear, or apply this word unadvisedly to Darwin’s doctrines. The “bishops, priests, and deacons,” all pious men, (fee., will uifliold me in its use, and will, perhaps, add still greater pungency to its flavour.

DARWIN AND DELUSION.

here they leave me, u alone in life’s desert” ; yet, I trust, in spite of Darwin, looking beyond all mists and myths, with a hope “ still pointing to heaven.” That happy faith, or presumption, cannot be taken from me by u jelly-fish, ape, or tailless monkey,” nor yet by any self-satisfied professor who may choose to aim his grey-goose shafts at all old and long-established religion, — to efface from the ancient traditional picture those well-known forms of Adam and Eve, the guileful and successful serpent, the very sour and excessively bad apple, and the insufficient leaf.

Before a man, however clever, eloquent, and learned, boldly tries to upset a religion that has been believed in, and is still believed in by many, he should take care to be as well or better informed on other matters dealt with, as he assumes him¬ self to be on this the most important of all. Many of Darwin’s physiological assertions are utterly wrong. Quoting from Huxley, he says, u The mode of origin” (I qualify my belief in this) il in man, dog, bird, frog, and fish, is, in the early stages of development, identical”; but in the u higher sphere of anatomical identity,” I do not deny that “man” is far nearer to apes than man or ape is to the dog.

FACTS AGAINST FICTION.

The dog is far superior to the ape in the structure' and action of the brain, and in point of reason is close on the heels of man. The brain, and the undoubted power of reason, the strength, recol¬ lection, and duration of affection for one object , and a resolution to defend with his life his master or mistress, who are not of his kin, all tend to prove that, as yet, the dog resembles man, and good men, too, much more than man resembles the ape, how¬ ever apish man may be ; and, perhaps, in some of the best phases of his shorter life, the dog surpasses the said-to-be upright and tailless monkey !

Darwin considers the loss of what would now be human tails as the result of what he calls “sexual selection” in some original ape, — which ape may have eaten his tail, as sick monkeys sometimes do, or he may have lost it by accident, and not from the good effects of superior intercourse. Ho also lays great stress on the growth of hair on head and beard, and on the fineness and smoothness of skin. Suppose I carry his vast and superior ob¬ servations with me at this moment to my pigstye, — begging his pardon for offering so lowly an illus¬ tration, — I therein invite his attention to some very fair-skinned pigs, fair, in some places, as the very fairest skin of tlio humanized ape, and with hardly a hair upon the whole surface of their bodies. More than this, those pigs, if I am to believe the “Darwinian theory,’5 must be , through “sexual selection ” of their parents, in a state of transition to superior form ; for, though born with little curly tails on a remarkably human flesh-like spot, they have invariably, at a very early age, shed their tails and become pork, as free from that appen¬ dage as any monkey ancestor that ever existed in Darwin’s theoretical mind. So much, then, for. the Darwin tale about tails, for my tale, and hence to the tails, or sterns, as sportsmen term them, of the thorough-bred canine race.

Is truth, is sincerity, a commendable virtue ? Is the undoubted expression of heartfelt pleasure, in which there can be no mistake, a source of gratifi¬ cation to the pleased observer ? On the other hand, are deceit and falsehood to be detested ? Is it agreeable to possess the power of divining at once the truth of words, of ascertaining the worth and real meaning of a smile which seems to beam over the eye, filling it with living light ? Is the power to separate truth from falsehood, to see beyond the mere word and feature, a source of happiness or wisdom ? If so, tlien, in spite of Darwin, let us* all have tails again — tails beyond our control, that will wag, whether we like it or not, and leave no longer any doubt of the sensation or emotion that really governs the mind !

Truly society, as at present constituted, might offer some grave objections to such a state of things, more particularly in the ranks of “fashion.” For instance, at our balls in palace, hall, or castle, with dresses worn as they now are, of course no tail would appear, but still its spontaneous “wag” might contradict the uttered word, and most inconveniently betray the real feelings of the heart. In vain would the prudent mother whisper to her daughter, “ there is that man coming to ask you to dance, my love. Say you are engaged, or it is too hot.” In vain does the poor girl, who perhaps really prefers the undesirable younger brother, utter the prompted words of refusal, the graceful folds of the tarlatan are rustled, and the thrill of pleasure in her heart made audible by the quick taps of the truth-telling tail upon the chair.

It might be inconvenient to have one’s tail trodden on in a crowded assembly ; but that ought not to weigh against the wagging sincerity which

DAK WIN AND DELUSION.

• would certainly pervade tlie world if the humanized ape had not lost his tail by being tamed and turned into man.

The dog’s tail cannot deceive. u What stirs the dog ? his ears and tail.” No teaching in the world can cloak the expression of his 11 ears and tail,” nor conceal the honest love that really lives within him. His tail will only wag at the approach of those to whom he is attached, or from whom he at the moment receives kindness : if he feels not pleasure, his tail is still. If angered and resolutely prepared for war, he bears it erect and stiff for the brave encounter ; if worsted in fair fight, or stricken with fear, he lowers it and retires ; but if he is a vile-hearted, mean cur, he runs away at once, with his tail, as the expression goes, between his legs.

There is no doubt that some of the most sagacious dogs, in occasional breeds, as in shepherd’s dogs, are to be found without tails ; but that, according to the present theory, may be because they are in more immediate transition to superior things.

That dogs are gifted with reasoning powers, I mean to prove elsewhere, but for the present

FACTS AGAINST FICTION.

content myself with mere references to the matter

j

contained in the theoretic book before me.

If Darwin, in his curious and most extensive researches, could only have established the fact of a fossil ape, first as an original ape, and then have discovered the fossil remains of an ape in an improved form, leading on to the tailless ape or man, he would have had something more than theory on which to base his amusing imagination. If monkeys or apes were, as he says, the original ancestors of man, then, in all probability, some transitional specimens would remain in a state of stony preservation ; instead of which, neither monkey nor man can be found, although the most perishable of all bones, those of the u water* rat,” are known to exist in a fossil state.

In my experience among wild animals some extraordinary facts have fallen under my notice ; such, for instance, as the double uterus of a healthful doe being found to contain not only the live fawn, to be u fallen ” in the next succeeding May or June, but also the remains of a dead fawn of the previous breeding season, which ought to have been born, but had never come to light.

I do not, therefore, reject a fact, merely because

DARWIN AND DELUSION.

it is unusual or inexplicable ; but I clo not deal in theories, and I never believe, or take as truth, any¬ thing solely because I am told it.

I do not accept, on mere assertion, such mis-state¬ ments as that gorillas frighten lions by their roar, or the story of that Abyssinian troop of baboons, the old males of which hurried down from their rocks to rescue others of their tribe which were attacked by dogs, and who u roared so fearfully that their assailants precipitately retreated.”

It is too much to say that u all animals cherish an invariable love for their offspring which nothing can interfere with, and which overcomes all rougher or more cruel inclinations,” for my ex¬ perience shows me that the sow, the ferret, the doe-rabbit, and even the mouse, on very slight provocation, will murder and eat their young.

If it is true that the swallows and house martins, to which Darwin alludes, leave their young to perish in deserted nests when the joeriod for migration arrives, this shows that they arc not so considerate in their maternal love as a quotation in the work before me supposes.

I perfectly agree with the assertion in page 192, Chap. VI., that u the faces of many of Mr.

FACTS AGAINST FICTION.

Darwin’s man monkeys, not yet ascended to humanity, are ornamented with beards, whiskers, and moustaches.” I see them very frequently in man, the beard sometimes in such over-profusion, when contrasted with the small, pale, monkey-face to which it is ostentatiously appended, and the attenuated legs over which it presides, that the possessors of this hirsute horror remind me of small vegetable productions which have let themselves run to seed, and become miserably impoverished by the crop which their constitutions, their chins, and their conceits have not the stamina healthfully to sustain.

I am glad, however, that Darwin, in his re¬ search, at times foundationless, has set at rest, to some extent, the doubt as to the “wisdom of a child in knowing its own father.” He tells us that lie himself, and all naturalists who believe in “ the principle of evolution,” will grant that the two main divisions of the “ Simiadse,” namely, the “Catarhine” and “Platyrhine” monkeys, have all proceeded from some one extremely ancient progenitor.

Darwin says, at page 336 of the second volume, that u Dr. Seemann observes greater intensity of

DARWIN AND DELUSION.

feeling in a single musical note tlian in pages of writing.” On my honest word, I cordially agree in this very natural opinion! Then, what a field of wild harmony Darwin opens before us ! The first monkeys must have sung, nor ape nor monkey ever could have u roared ” lovably and harmo¬ niously, passionately and to perfection, seated on the topmost bough which would bear their weight, to a crowd of female listeners.

There is, hanging in one of my rooms, a picture of “ Apollo and the Nine,” all in undress, and among them only one chaperone — she, however, is in possession of an immense shield. The hair of Apollo is visibly on fire, he being, probably, in a state of transition to the operatic ape ; but he evi¬ dently does not agree with Darwin in the opinion that male birds become gradually possessed of fine plumage from the influence, during their moult, of a wish to charm the female. Any such wish the Apollo of the picture has evidently laid aside, for he has utterly plucked himself of both feather and finery, and is represented to us, in heraldic phrase, as u a savage man proper,” with his head on fire.

Having to treat of birds in another portion of

II FACTS AGAINST FICTION.

my work, I must pass over some few theories on natural history generally, and ornithology in par¬ ticular; hut the Darwinian theory “ On Heads” is such a stumbling-block in my way to truth, that it must be noticed.

He tells us that our ape-like progenitors acquired their beards as an ornament to charm the opposite sex, and transmitted them to man as he now exists. This, according to all my experience, is an utterly wild and nonsensical theory. If the express pur¬ pose of the man-approacliing monkeys of the rising world had been to acquire that which would most captivate the feminine eye, hair would never have been cultivated on the chins and faces of our parental precursors. On the contrary, their minds would, have been set on the culture of better legs — “those twin invaders of domestic peace, ” as the inimitable “ Boz v has termed them. From all the observa¬ tions I have been able to make on surrounding society, unquestionably a good leg is 'more capti¬ vating to the female heart than the most bearded chin or the best-trained moustache, often cultivated only to conceal some defect of mouth, teeth, or expression.

In my time, monarchs ruled the uniform of the

DARWIN AND DELUSION.

army by tlieir own royal legs. George the Fourth, who was my godfather, put me in tights when I joined the Coldstream Guards, for he had very good legs; and William the Fourth took me out of tights and put me in loose trousers, because his legs were not of so irresistible a quality as his brother’s.

The following anecdote may not be unamusing to my readers, and it is strictly relevant to the subject on which I am writing; for though the circumstance occurred- at a time antecedent to Darwin, the heroine of my story had evidently a notion that man and woman, perhaps Adam and Eve, were descended from pre-Adamite frogs ; at all events, she thought the human race were, in some of their exercises and habits, similar to frogs.

The lady to whom I allude was a strong-minded woman, not handsome nor young ; the absence of personal charms had, perhaps, tended to strengthen her savage and unyielding virtue : I say unyielding, but I know not if the fortress was ever besieged* In some things she resembled the young lady — I suppose her young — who so wittily advocated u woman suffrage” at a recent public meeting, quoting the clever speech of one of George Eliot’s best-drawn characters, to the