The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-01-29

lives of so many travellers lost in the
 snow, made the breed famous, did not
 weigh more than one hundred and thir-
 ty pounds; and Albert Smiths pair of dogs. which he brought from Switzer- land about 1850 to assist him in his pop-
 ular entertainments, seemed to be lit tie, if any, heavier. However, by a special process, which is worked out by
 selection of the Attest, and by extra care in rearing and feeding, the St. Ber-
 hard has waxed and increased greatly in size until he stands well out from all other varieties as the giant of the
 canine race-i. e., taking height and weight into consideration, for there are and have been taller dogs than he. As
 the Goliath of dogs, in 1884 the Rev. A.
 Carter introduced Plinllmmon, who lowered high above/any of his strain.
 Fairly and carefully measured. he stood
 thirtythree and one-half inches high at the shoulders, and weighed in his nat ural and not too obese state, two hun dred and ten pounds. This fine speci- men of the St. Bernard was eventually
 purchased for about eight hundred pounds by the late MT. J, K. Emmett, a
 Well-knoWn American actor, in whose possession the great dog died But a bigger St. Bernard than Plinlimmon was introduced three years later, this being MT. T. H, Greens Sir Bedivere, who besides being his equal in height, exceeded him by two or three pounds in weight. Lord Butte was even half an inch higher at the shoulders than Sir Bedivere; when With us he weighed but two hundred pounds, though after he had sojourned few weeks in America he was said to scale two hundred and twenty pounds-a statement which, to say the least, was of doubtful truth
 Later there did come heavier dog or rather two heavier dogs, than either Plinlimmon or Sir Bedivere, and in 1897 MT. Sant's Lord Bressey scaled the im- mense weight of two hundred and thir- ty-four pounds, while MT. Ralph's Duke of Firmont, who fourshed about the same period, was but some half dozen pounds less. Ii is not often the females of the larger varieties of the dog ap- proach the males in size, but notable exception is the case of the celebrated Princess Florence, who weighed two hundred and twelve pounds, and she ob- talned her enormous size and height, length of back and great frame gene rally. The late MT. H. J. Bettertons smooth dog Watch was a little over two hundred pounds in weight, but he did not look nearly so big, and we imagine that the biggest dog of the present day Is Messrs. 1nman and Walmsey's smooth dog Parsival, who must scale well over the two hundred pound. He is of great height and possesses enor- nous bone and unusual depth of ribs.
 Perhaps there may be owners who will claim for their dogs equality or maybe excess in weight over such as have been mentioned in this article Our examples have. however, obtained more or less celebrity in their line, and having done so. thus become more or less public characters, and therein the interest lies. Moreover, they enable us to tell what big dogs are, of their weights and heights, and to draw atten- tion to the fact that dogs more than a yard high are as mythical as such as are said to be ''as big as donkeys," and | our readers are assured that when they are mentioned, the romancist is at work | and allusions to such fabulous speci- mems of the canine race must be taken as travellers tales and as examples of aggeration.-Lcndon Field.