INTRODUCTION. 105 



climate and in captivity, are not conclusive because 

 they have terminated in the negative. We may add, 

 that it is likely dogs are at least as likely as horses 

 to be affected by impressions of former impregna- 

 tions effected by different species, and not oblite- 

 rated in the offspring of a subsequent homogeneous 

 litter.* 



We know already enough of the kindlier moral 

 instincts of several wild canines to render their apti- 

 tude for domestication, during the pressure of a 

 series of ages, not very problematical; and if the 

 education of some of the races nearer to the wild 

 condition do not appear to be advanced to a great 

 degree of tractability, we must reflect that domestic 

 qualities are of very slow growth, as long as wild 

 congeners exist in the same country; and that, 

 where man is a savage, his dog cannot be expected 

 to be civilized. This truth is indeed of such univer- 

 sal application, that in some measure we may deter- 

 mine the social condition of a nation by the degree 

 of education its dogs have acquired. 



If, therefore, we were to distribute the more 

 typical races of dogs according to their apparent 

 affinities with those wild species which we know to 

 reside in zones of latitudes sufficiently proximate for 

 admitting their paternity, and place the more aber- 

 rant tribes likewise in their congenial zones, although 



* We refer to the case of the mare and quagga, and her 

 subsequent foals, recorded in Surgeons' College, London; 

 where the pictures of the successive foals, painted by Agape, 

 are preserved. 



