T^S On Indian Dogs, 



lo the jnckaT, or fclulcal, vviil alfo prove to be of the ran7e 

 breed. But with me thcfe mufl remain, for fome tim<', mere 

 conjetliures. For I am incnpable of giving fuch a minute 

 clclcriplion of the external and internal appearance of the 

 Indian doe as would enable the natiiralifts of Europe to de- 

 cide a queltion not ihe leaft curious in the zoology of the new 

 world. In another work I hope to be able to give a much 

 iMore complete account of this animal than that which 1 now 

 communicate to the public. 



I have faid that the Indian dog is a much more favage or 

 «nreciaimed animal than the common dog which has been 

 introduced into America from Europe *. This circumftance 

 has not cfcaped the notice of fome preceding writers. But I 

 know of no writer who has deduced from it fo important a 

 conclufion as Mr. Zimmermann has done. This truly learned 

 naturalid, after remarking that the Europeans who have vi- 

 iited America have confidered the Indian dogs merely as 

 lamed wolves, proceeds to deduce the conclufion, that nei- 

 ther America ilfelf, nor its inhabitants, are fo antient as the 

 countries or the people of other parts of the world f. 



This conclufion proceeds upon the notion, fo ingenioufly 

 defended by Mr. Zimmerninnn, that the dog of the old world 

 is merely the wolf reduced to a ftate of domettication, and 

 varied, both as to h'ls external afpe6l and as to his eirential 

 tjualitics or manners, by the influence of climate and other 

 phyficai caufes, during the term of fome thoufand years J. 

 This fubject is worthy of fome of our attention. I regret, 

 however, that in this place I can only touch it in the moft 

 fupcrficial manner. This I Ihall do under the following feven 

 heads. 



I. T may obferve, in the firf^ place, that it is by no means 

 probable that the wolf is the fole parerrf or original (lock 

 irom whence have proceeded all the numerous varieties of 

 animals which go under the general appellation of dogs. I 

 think it much more jirobable that thefe varieties are derived 

 from fevoral ditTerent (locks or fources befide the wolf; fuch 

 as the jackal, the hviena, different kinds of foxes, &;c. Sec. 

 In their inijuiries into the genealogical hi (lory of the dog 

 kind, naturalifts, by aiming at fimplicity, have only tended 

 to involve the fubjetl in confufion. A comparative view of 

 the internal (Impure of the fuppofed parents of the dog kind, 

 and the dogs^ has been too much negleifed. Some attention, 



* See pige 7. f Specimen, &:c. p. 91- 



4 Tht whole of Mr. Zimir.ermann's inquiry into the origin, &c. of the 

 dt'^ khid, is well worrhy of the attention of the naturalift. See Specimen, 

 &c. 5 3. p. 83 — 98. 



9 however. 



