THE GREAT DOG-SUPERSTITION 277 



that he had been specially created for such an 

 object. Thus, Youatt says, " The dog, next to the 

 human being, ranks highest in intelligence, and was 

 evidently designed to be the companion and friend 

 of man"; and in another place he says that it is 

 highly probable that he descended from no such 

 inferior and worthless animal as the jackal or wolf, 

 but was originally created, somewhat as we now 

 find him the associate and friend of man. 



This was not so very hard to believe in the 

 pre-Darwinian days, since domesticated dogs, and 

 even some of the breeds which we now possess, were 

 known to have existed between three and four 

 thousand years ago, while the world was only 

 supposed to have existed about six thousand years. 

 It seems probable that this curious superstition of 

 the dog's special creation grew up gradually and 

 only became popular in very recent times. It was 

 gladly seized on by the poets, who made as much 

 out of it as they had formerly done out of the 

 melody of the dying swan; and the artists were 

 not slow in following their example. A dog may 

 be choked with pudding, but the human mind 

 greedily gulped down as much of this mawkish 

 dog-sentiment as any person, with misdirected 

 talents, chose to manufacture for it. 



Before proceeding with the story of our dog 

 superstition, I will here interpose a remark anent 

 that which obtains in the other half, or more than 

 half, of the world the East. " The people of the 

 East," says Youatt, " have a strange superstition 



