DOCILITY OF ANIMALS. 



ence of food upon the magnitude of cattle. The oxen, as 

 well as the horses, in the more northern parts of Scotland, 

 are extremely diminutive ; but, when transported to richer 

 pasture, their size is augmented, and the qualities of their 

 flesh are improved. The climate has likewise a considerable 

 influence on the nature of the ox. In the northern regions 

 of both continents, he is covered with long, soft hair. He 

 has likewise a large bunch on his shoulders ; and this deformi- 

 ty is common to the oxen of Asia, Africa, and America. 

 Those of Europe have no bunch. The European oxen, how- 

 ever, seem to be the primitive race, to which the bunched 

 kind ascend, by intermixture, in the second or third genera- 

 tion. The difference in their size is remarkably great. The 

 small zebu, or bunched ox of Arabia, is not one tenth part of 

 the magnitude of the ^Ethiopian bull-elephant. 



The influence of food upon the dog kind seems not to be 

 great. In all his variations and degradations, he appears to 

 follow the differences of climate. In the warmest climates, 

 he is naked ; in the northern regions, he is covered with a 

 coarse, thick hair ; and he is adorned with a fine, silky robe 

 in Spain and Syria, where the mild temperature of the aii 

 converts the hair of most quadrupeds into a kind of silk. 

 Besides these external variations produced by climate, the 

 dog undergoes other changes, which proceed from his situa- 

 tion, his captivity, and the nature of the intercourse he holds 

 with man. His size is augmented or diminished by obliging 

 the smaller kinds to unite together, and by observing the 

 same conduct with the larger individuals. Pendulous ears, 

 the most certain mark of domestic servitude and of fear, are 

 almost universal. Of many races of dogs, a few only have 

 retained the primitive state of their ears. Erect ears are now 

 confined to the wolf-dog, the shepherd's dog, and the dog of 

 the north. 



The color of animals is greatly variegated by domestica- 

 tion. The dog, the ox, the sheep, the goat, the horse, have 

 assumed all kinds of colors, and even mixtures of colors, in 

 the same individuals. The hog has changed from black to 

 white ; and white, without intermixture of spots, is generally 

 accompanied with essential imperfections. Men who are re- 

 markably fair, and whose hair is white, have generally a defect 

 in their hearing, and, at the same time, weak and red eyes. 

 Quadrupeds which are entirely white likewise have red eyes 

 and a dulness of hearing.* The variations from the original 



* ' The individuals known under the name of Albinoes are examples of the same 

 sort of imperfection as that alluded to in the text witli regard to animal*. They have a 



