MAMMALIA— DOG. 131 



the dog; 



Largeness of the frame, elegance of the form, strength of the body, free- 

 dom of the motions, and all the exterior qualities, are not the noblest pro- 

 perties in an animated being ; and, as in mankind, understanding is preferred 

 to figure, courage to strength, and sentiment to beauty, so the interior 

 qualities are those which we esteem most in animals ; for it is in these 

 that they differ from the automaton ; it is by these they are raised above 

 the vegetable, and made to approach nearer to ourselves ; it is their sense 

 which ennobles their being, which regulates, which enlivens it, which com- 

 mands the organs, makes the members active, gives birth to desire, and 

 gives to matter progressive motion, will, and life. 



The dog, independently of his beauty, vivacity, strength, and swiftness, 

 has all the interior qualities which can attract the regard of man. The 

 tame dog comes to lay at his master's feet his courage, strength, and talents, 

 and waits his orders to use them ; he consults, interrogates, and beseeches ; 

 the glance of his eye is sufficient; he understands the signs of his will. 

 Without the vices of man, he has all his ardor of sentiment ; and, what is 

 more, he has fidelity and constancy in his affections ; no ambition, no inte- 

 rest, no desire of revenge, no fear but that of displeasing him, he is all 

 zeal, all warmth, and all obedience ; more sensible to the remembrance of 

 benefits than of wrongs, he soon forgets, or only remembers them to make 

 his attachment the stronger ; far from irritating, or running away, he even 

 exposes himself to new proofs ; he licks the hand which is the cause of his 

 pain, he only opposes it by his cries, and at length entirely disarms it by 

 his patience and submission. 



In deserts, and depopulated countries, there are wild dogs, which in their 

 manners differ only from wolves, by the facility with which they are tamed; 

 they unite also in large troops, to hunt and attack by force wild boars and 

 bulls, and even lions and tigers. 



Dogs which have been abandoned in the deserts of America, and have 

 lived wild for a hundred and fifty, or two hundred years, though changed 

 from their original breed, since they are sprung from domestic dogs, have, 

 notwithstanding this long space of time, retained, at least in part, their 

 primitive form, and travellers report that they resemble our greyhound.* 



1 Canis familiaris, Lin. The genus Canis has six upper and six lower incisors; two 

 upper and two lower canines ; twelve upper and fourteen lower molars. The three first 

 molars in the upper jaw, and the four in the lower, small edged ; the great carnivorous tooth 

 above bicuspid, with a tubercle on the inner side; two tuberculous teeth behind each of 

 the large carnivorous ones ; muzzle elongated; tongue soft; ears erect; fore feet penta- 

 dactylous : hind feet tetradactylous ; teats inguinal and ventral. 



*It must not be understood that the dog is not an original inhabitant of America. 

 Godman remarks that the people of the northern parts of America and Asia, have, for 

 nges beyond the memory of man, employed dogs as beasts of burden, or for draught. The 

 dogs of the Esquimaux, and other aborigines of this continent, differ much in size and 

 color, yet they are all of a breed apparently intermediate to the wolf and fox. 



