FOXHOUND.—Canis familiaris. 
delicate scent, and high courage, approach as near to absolute perfection as can well be 
imagined. 
By thus improving the condition of the domesticated Dog, the country has been 
benefited, for it is impossible to improve any inhabitant of a country without conferring 
a benefit on the land in which it is reared. Still, supposing that half the sums which are 
annually expended on training Dogs for the amusement of the upper classes had been 
employed in improving the condition of the uneducated and neglected poor, and had been 
backed by equal judgment, I cannot but fancy that the country would have received a 
greater benefit than is conferred upon it by the most admirable pack of hounds that can 
be conceived. 
It is supposed that the modern Foxhound derives its origin from the old English 
hound, and its various points of perfection from judicious crosses with other breeds. For 
example, in order to increase its speed, the greyhound is made to take part in its 
pedigree, and the greyhound having already some admixture of the bull-dog blood, there is 
an infusion of stubbornness as well as of mere speed. 
There are various breeds of Dogs which are remarkable for the very great development 
of some peculiar faculty, such as speed in the greyhound, courage in the bull-dog, delicacy 
of scent in the bloodhound, sagacity in the poodle, and so on. So that, when a breed of 
Dogs begins to fail in any of these characteristics, the fault is amended by the introduction 
of a Dog belonging to the breed which exhibits the needful quality in greatest perfection. 
It is remarkable that the mental character is transmitted through a longer series of 
descendants than the outward form. Even in the case of such widely different Dogs as 
the bull-dog and the greyhound, all vestige of the bull-dog form is lost in the fourth 
cross, while the determinate courage of the animal is persistent, and serves to invigorate 
the character of unnumbered successive progeny. 
By using these means with the greatest care and judgment, the modern sportsmen 
have succeeded in obtaining an animal which is so accurate of scent, that it might 
almost challenge the bloodhound himself in its power of discovering it, and of adhering 
