194 . NATURAL HISTORY. 



The dog is the only animal whose fidelity may be 

 put to the proof. He is the only one which always 

 knows his master and his friends : the only one which 

 perceives the approach of a stranger: the only animal, 

 in short, whose talents are evident, and whose educa- 

 tion is always good. 



Of all animals, the dog has fin understanding mo?t 

 susceptible of impressions, and is most easily taught 

 by moral causes. He is also, above all other creatures, 

 most subject to the variety and other alterations oc- 

 casioned by physical influences. The temperament, 

 the faculties, and habits of do<^> vary prodigiously, and 

 their form is not uniform. In the same country, one 

 dog is very different from another dog, and the species 

 is quite different in itself in different climates. 



But what is most difficult to ascertain in the nu- 

 merous variety of different races, is the character of 

 the primitive and original breed. How are we to 

 know the effects produced by the influence of the cli- 

 mate, food, &c. ? 



Among domestic animals, the dog is, above all 

 others, that which is most attached to man. He is 

 that in which sentiment predominates enough to ren- 

 der him docile, obedient, and susceptible of all impres- 

 sions, and even of all constraint. It is not astonish- 

 ing, therefore, that of all animals tin's should also be 

 that in which we find the greatest variety, not only 

 in figure, in height, and in colour, but in every other 

 quality. 



There are also some circumstances which concur to 

 this change. The dog in general lives but a short 

 time; it produces frequently, and in pretty large num- 

 bers ; and as it is perpetually beneath the eyes of mart, 

 as soon as by a chance usual to nature, there may have 



