When a puppy is unable to stand strongly on his legs, which are more or less twisted and the joints enlarged, the condition is known by the name rickets, and if the case is a bad one, he had better be destroyed. The disease is often produced by bad management, but sometimes it is the result of breeding " in and in," or of diseased parents. Phosphate of lime is the main agent in stiffening the skeleton, and if food containing this salt is not afforded in sufficient quantity the bones are of a gelatinous character, easily bending under the dog's weight, and consequently rendered by nature too bulky for his future well-being as an animal fitted for the chase. Many breeders like to see a puppy show larger joints than usual, and consider them an indication of strength; but I am strongly of opinion that the reverse is the case, and that the puppy which has them is not nearly so strong as one whose limbs are grown more like those of an old dog. This, however, is a disputed point, and I would never advise the rejection of a puppy because his joints were all enlarged; but, if one is much larger than the others, it is a sign of worse disease than rickets, and more nearly allied to what, in human pathology, is called scrofula.

Sometimes the swellings disappear, and the disease is cured, but generally these joints become more and more inflamed, and finally go on to form matter, and to make the dog entirely lame. Little can be done for this in the way of treatment, and the destruction of the puppy is the best plan of proceeding. In rickets, however, a great change sometimes takes place, and the bending of the limbs or the enlargement of the joints gradually disappears, leaving only some slight indication of what has existed. Too often, however, the bone is weak and liable to fracture; and at the time when the dog is wanted for the sport to which it is dedicated, the bone gives way, and the time and trouble occupied-in its rearing are found to have been totally thrown away; hence the necessity for good feeding in the rearing of all young dogs, and too much c are can scarcely be bestowed upon them.