HISTORY OF THE DOG. 26;- 



found so entirely adapted to this purpose ? where could one be found so 

 bold, so tractable, and so obedient as the dog ? Without his assistance 

 how could man have conquered, tamed, and reduced other animals into 

 slavery ? how could he have hunted down and destroyed those noxious 

 animals from whose rapacity his life was in continual danger? To con- 

 firm the truth of these observations, we need only turn our attention to 

 the present condition of those nations which are not yet emerged froia 

 a state of barbarism, where the uses of the dog are but little known or 

 attended to, and we will find that they lead a precarious and wretched 

 life of perpetual warfare with the still more savage inhabitants of the 

 forest, with which they are obliged to dispute the possession of their 

 uncultivated fields and divide with them the fruits of their labors. 



"Through the intelligence of the dog the world exists"; so says the 

 Vendidad, the oldest portion of one of the oldest books of the world — 

 the Zend-Avesta. " The dog," writes Frederic Cuvier, " is the most re- 

 markable, complete, and useful conquest which man has ever made. The 

 whole species is become our property ; each individual belongs wholly 

 to his master, learns his habits, knows and defends his property, and 

 remains devoted unto death. And all this springs not from necessity or 

 fear, but from pure love and attachment. The speed and the sense of 

 smell possessed by the dog have made it one of m.an's most powerful 

 auxiliaries, and perhaps it is necessary for the maintenance of human 

 society. The dog is the only animal which has followed man over all 

 the world." Toussenel goes further, and, regarding the dog as an inte- 

 gral part of mankind, exclaims : " The best part of man is the dog." 



In marked contrast to these views is the remarkable loathing with 

 which some of the Semitic nations regard the dog. All through the 

 Jewish Scriptures the dog is always mentioned in terms of abhorrence 

 ,md contempt, although we know that dogs were domesticated among 

 the Jews, and used to guard the sheep-folds (Job, ch. xxx, v. i) and to 

 watch the house (Isaiah, ch. Ivi, v. lo). This feeling is still felt by mos.t 

 of those who profess the religion of Mohammed. As, however, the 

 Moslemin of Persia on the one side, and of North Africa on the other, 

 are as fond and proud of their dogs as we are, the dislike seems to 

 have its foundation in race rather than in religious feeling. As a con- 

 sequence of this abhorrence the dog is, in most parts of the East, in a 

 very miserable condition ; he is left, uncared for, to wander gaunt, 

 hungry, and savage — to wander through the streets without a master 



