310 



ANIMALS OF 



to understand the nature of subordination, and 

 seeks assistance ; the only one who, when he 

 misses his master, testifies his loss by his com- 

 plaints ; the only one who, carried to a distant 

 place, can find the way home ; the only one 

 whose natural talents are evident, and whose 

 education is always successful. 



In the same manner, as the dog is of the 

 most complying disposition, so also is it the 

 most susceptible of change in its form; the 

 varieties of this animal being too many for 

 even the most careful describer to mention. 

 The climate, the food, and the education, all 

 make strong impressions upon the animal, and 

 produce alterations in its shape, its colour, 

 its hair, its size, and in every thing but its 

 nature. The same dog, taken from one cli- 

 mate and brought to another, seems to become 

 another animal; but different breeds are as 

 much separated, to all appearance, as any 

 two animals the most distinct in nature. No- 

 thing appears to continue constant with them, 

 but their internal conformation ; different in 

 the figureof the body, inthe length of the nose, 

 in the shape of the head, in the length and 

 the direction of the ears and tail, in the co- 

 lour, the quality, and the quantity of the hair ; 

 in short, different in every thing but that make 

 of the parts which serve to continue the spe- 

 cies, and keep the animal distinct from all 

 others. It is this peculiar conformation, this 

 power of producing an animal that can repro- 

 duce, that marks the kind, and approximates 

 forms that at first sight seem never made for 

 conjunction. 



From this single consideration, therefore, 

 we may at once pronounce all dogs to be of 

 one kind ; but which of them is the original 

 of all the rest, which of them is the savage 

 dog from whencesucha variety of descendants 

 have come down, is no easy matter to deter- 

 mine. We may easily, indeed, observe, that 

 all those animals which are under the influence 

 of man, are subject to great variations. Such 

 as have been sufficiently independent, so as 

 to choose their own climate, their own nou- 

 rishment, and to pursue their own habitudes, 

 preserve the original marks of nature, without 

 much deviation ; and it is probable, that the 

 first of these is even at this day very well re- 

 presented in their descendants. But such as 

 man has subdued, transported from one cli- 



mate to another, controlled in their manner 

 of living, and their food, have most probably 

 been changed also in their forms ; particular- 

 ly the dog has felt these alterations more 

 strongly than any other of the domestic kinds; 

 for living more like man, he may be thus said 

 to live more irregularly also, and, consequent- 

 ly, must have felt all those changes that such 

 variety would naturally produce. Some other 

 causes also may be assigned for this variety 

 in the species of the dog: as he is perpetual- 

 ly under the eye of his master, when accident 

 has produced any singularity in its producti- 

 ons, man uses all his art to continue this pe- 

 culiarity unchanged ; either by breeding from 

 such as had those singularities, or by destroy- 

 ing such as happened to want them; besides, 

 as the dog produces much more frequently 

 than some other animals, and lives a shorter 

 time, so the chance for its varieties will be 

 offered in greater proportion. 



But which is the original animal, and which 

 the artificial or accidental variety, isaquestion 

 which, as was said, is not easily resolved. If 

 the internal structure of dogs of different sorts 

 be compared with each other, it will be found, 

 except in point of size, that in this respect 

 they are exactly the same. This, therefore, 

 affords no criterion. If other animals be com- 

 pared with the dog internally, the wolf and 

 the fox will be found to have the most perfect 

 resemblance ; it is probable, therefore, that 

 the dog, Avhich most nearly resembles the 

 wolf or the fox externally, is the original ani- 

 mal of its kind: for it is natural to suppose, 

 that as the dog most nearly resembles them 

 internally, so he may be near them in exter- 

 nal resemblance also, except where art or 

 accident has altered his form. This being 

 supposed, if we look among the number of 

 varieties to be found in the dog, we shall not 

 find one so like the wolf or the fox, as that 

 which is called the shepherd's dog. This is 

 that dog with long coarse hair on all parts 

 except the nose, pricked ears, and a long nose, 

 which is common enough among us, and re- 

 ceives his name from being principally used 

 in guarding and attending on sheep. This 

 seems to be the primitive animal of his kind; 

 and we shall be the more coi firmed in this 

 opinion, if we attend to the different charac- 

 ters which climate produces in the animal. 



