SHEEP. 



THE position of the sheep in the scale of the animal 

 creation has not yet been assigned. Naturalists, who 

 are guided by mere externals, have, indeed, agreed that the 

 sheep is a quadruped, that it is herbivorous and ruminant ; 

 but, after all, this does not help us much. Physically, the 

 sheep may stand high ; mentally, it appears to be about 

 on the level of the garden slug. The sheep eats continually, 

 and when he is not eating, he is chewing ; this gives him .a 

 thoughtful appearance ; but no savants have ever ventured 

 a suggestion as to the subject of his thoughts. He has his 

 good points as a producer of wool and mutton, but the 

 garden slug is edible and nourishing, and the caterpillar 

 yields a most valuable product for clothing ; therefore this 

 fact cannot be considered as bearing upon the subject of 

 his place in the scale of creation. In its wild state the 

 sheep is said to be sagacious, but the stories of huntsmen, 

 like those of fishermen, are to be received with marked 

 distrust. If the sheep is sagacious in its wild state, why 

 should it become so densely stupid when domesticated ? 

 The dog and the negro improve immensely in intelligence 

 from contact with man, and are both capable of attaining 

 a high degree of reasoning power. Dogs cannot, indeed, 



