NATURAL HISTORY. 197 



wool of a mattress that she had torn. Water seems 

 to be still more necessary for dogs than food : they 

 drink often, and a great deal at a time ; and it is even 

 a vulgar opinion, that if they want water long, they 

 become mad. 



To give a clearer idea of the order of dogs, of their 

 generation in different climates, and of the mixture of 

 their breeds, I subjoin a table, or rather a kind of 

 genealogical tree, in which, with a glance of the eye, 

 all the different varieties of the species may be seen. 



The shepherd's dog is the stock or body of the tree : 

 this dog, transported into the rigorous climate of the 

 North, as into Lapland, for example, has become ugly 

 and small. He seems, however, to have been kept 

 up, and even brought to perfection, in Iceland, Russia, 

 and Siberia, where the climate is less rigorous, and 

 where the people are more civilized. These changes 

 have been occasioned by the influence of climate alone, 

 which has produced no great alteration in the form ; 

 for all these dogs have straight ears, long and thick 

 hair, and a wild look. 



The same shepherd's dogs, transported into tempe- 

 rate climates, and among people who are quite civi- 

 lized, such as those of England, France, or Germany, 

 lose their savage air, their straight ears, their long, 

 thick, and rough hair, and become mastiff, hound, or 

 bull-dog, by the influence of climate merely. Of the 

 mastiff, and the bull-dog, the ears are partly straight, 

 or only half-hanging ; and in their manners and san- 

 guinary disposition they resemble the dog from which 

 they drew their origin. The hound is the most dis- 

 tant of the three : the long hanging ears, the docility, 

 gentleness, and, we may say, timidity of this dog, are 

 so many proofs of the great degeneration, or rather 



