98 THE AMERICAN BOOK OF THE DOG. 



dog as a companion and associate of man. On ancien^ 

 Egyptian monuments is often seen the figure of an animal 

 very much resembling the Pointer of to-day; and other 

 ancient works of art, both of sculpture and painting, as 

 well as family records, justify the belief that the dog, in a 

 domesticated state, was contemporaneous with the very 

 dawn of civilization itself . 



Regarding the origin of the Pointer, much conjecture 

 has been indulged in by various writers on the dog. No 

 two of the early authors seem to agree entirely as to the 

 precise period when the Pointer came into existence as 

 such, with all his wonderful instincts and capabilities fully 

 developed. We must probably seek for that period in 

 those misty ages of tradition and uncertainty that mark 

 the origin of our common law, and which Blackstone des- 

 ignates as ' ' the time whereof the memory of man runneth 

 not to the contrary." 



The earliest printed work, in the English language, 

 describing the various breeds of dogs, was a "Book of 

 Field Sports," written by Dame Juliana Berners, prioress 

 of Sopwell Nunnery, in Hertfordshire, about the end of 

 the fourteenth century. In this work, this lady says: 

 "Thyse ben the names of houndes, fyrste there is a Gre- 

 houn, a Bastard, a Mengrell, a Mastif, a Lemor, a Spanyel, 

 Raches, Kenettys, Teroures, Butchers Houndes, Dunghyll 

 dogges, Tryndeltaylles, and Pryckeryd currys, and small 

 ladyes poppees that bere awaye the flees." 



The next work, in point of antiquity, referring to the 

 same subject, was by Dr. John Caius, physician to Queen 

 Elizabeth, published in* Latin in 1576, and subsequently 

 translated into English. The classification of dogs in this 

 treatise was into three varieties, viz.: "(1) A gentle kind, 

 serving the game; (2) a homely kind, apt for sundry nec- 

 essary uses; (3) a currish kind, meet for many toyes." The 

 first of these classes is divided by Doctor Caius into two 

 parts, viz. : Venatici, used for hunting wild beasts, and Au- 

 cupatorii, which were employed in the pursuit of fowl. 

 The Venatici were further subdivided into eight varieties, 



