196 NATURAL HISTORY. 



We may presume, then, that the shepherd's dog ap- 

 proaches nearest to the primitive races of this species ; 

 for in all countries inhabited by savages, or, at least, 

 by men half-civilized, the dogs resemble this breed 

 more than any other. On the whole continent of the 

 new world, they had no other. In France, where this 

 species is usually called the shepherd's dog, and in 

 other temperate climates, it is still more numerous ; 

 though we are much more occupied in giving birth to, 

 or in multiplying the breeds which are more pleasing, 

 than preserving those which are more useful, and 

 which we have disdained and abandoned to the pea- 

 sants, who have the care of our flocks. 



Dogs are generally produced with their eyes shut: 

 the two eye-lids are not only closed, but adhere by a 

 membrane, which breaks away as soon as the muscle 

 of the upper eye-lid is become strong enough to raise 

 itself, and to overcome this obstacle ; and the greater 

 number of dogs have not their eyes open till the tenth 

 or twelfth day. At this time, the bones of the skull 

 are not finished, the body is puffed out, the snout is 

 swelled, and they have not their proper form ; but in 

 less than a month they learn to make use of all their 

 senses, and begin to have strength and a swift growth. 

 In the fourth month, they get some of their teeth, 

 which all amount to forty-two. 



Bitches go with young nine weeks, that is sixty- 

 three days, but never less than sixty. Length of life 

 in dogs is like that of other animals, proportioned to the 

 time required for their growth ; for if they are about 

 two years in growing, they live about fourteen years. 



In the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences, we 

 find the history of a bitch, which having been acci- 

 dentally left behind in a country-house, subsisted forty 

 days without any other food than the stuff or the 



