288 DOG. 



ness increases, and he sometimes becomes perfectly 

 ferocious. He watches, goes the rounds, smells 

 strangers at a distance, and if they stop or at- 

 tempt to leap any barrier, he instantly darts upon 

 them, and by barking, and other marks of pas- 

 sion, alarms the family and neighbourhood. 

 Equally furious against thieves as against rapa- 

 cious animals, he attacks and wounds them, and 

 forces from them whatever they have been at- 

 tempting to carry off; but, contented with vic- 

 tory, he lies down upon the spoil, and will not 

 touch it even to satisfy his appetite, exhibiting, 

 at the same time, an example of courage, temper- 

 ance and fidelity. 



' ' To conceive the importance of this species in 

 the order of Nature, let us suppose that it never 

 existed. Without the assistance of the Dog, how 

 could men have conquered, tamed, and reduced 

 the other animals into slavery? How could he 

 still discover, hunt down, and destroy noxious 

 and savage beasts ? For his own safety, and to 

 render him master of the world, it was necessary 

 to form a party among the animals themselves; 

 to conciliate by caresses those which were capa- 

 ble of attachment and obedience, in order to op- 

 pose them to the other species. Hence the train- 

 ing of the Dog seems to have been the first art 

 invented by man ; and the result of this art was 

 the conquest and peaceable possession of the 

 earth. " 



The docility of the dog is such, that he may be 

 taught to practise, with considerable dexterity, a 



