Sir Richard Mayne appears to be under that very dismal
illusion that " the dog days " are days when dogs are likely to go mad.. As a matter of fact, heat has nothing on earth do with hydro- phobia, as many dogs going mad in winter as annuner ; but Sir Richard Mayne's views on the subject are not scientific, but popular. All dogs, consequently, found unmuzzled, or not in a chain, in London, during July and August, will be seized by the police, and if not redeemed by their owners, shot. It is a cruel delusion, which tends to produce, if not madness, the nervous irri- tation which makes dogs dangerous. But as Sir Richard Mayne will have it so, let us recommend dog owners to buy the wire-net muzzles (like coarse respirators), instead of the cruel straps which keep dogs' mouths firmly shut. They are just as cheap, much- more efficient, and a hundred times more humane. The dogs can both breathe, and drink freely, through them.
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