HISTORICAL NOTES 17 



The generic name "hound" conies from the same 

 root as "hunt" and signifies a dog used in hunting. 

 The Assyrians, Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, Ro- 

 mans and Teutons all had dogs for both hunting 

 and war, and the pugnaces were as much war dogs 

 then as any other destructive agency that could be 

 used in augmenting military force. 



The day of the Roman shaded gradually into 

 mediaeval times when the dog developed into still 

 other types, particularly with the introduction of 

 missile weapons. House dogs were bred small so 

 as to be suitable for milady's boudoir, one of the 

 most ancient lap-dog breeds being the spaniel, 

 whose name tells us he was developed in Spain, 

 probably in the tenth century and possibly of 

 yet earlier lineage from the Saracens, for we find 

 the same breed in the Chinese court spaniel, dating 

 back for untold centuries in the Chinese records, 

 showing that the same dog developed originally 

 somewhere in the then populous Euphrates valley. 



From the times of the Romans through the Dark 

 Ages no record has been left of the development of 

 the dog, but from early tapestries and paintings 

 we note a big variety of them. The heavy dog of 

 the Assyrians comes down into mediaeval times as 

 the mastin of the French and the mastiff of the 

 English ; the coursing dog of the Egyptians, long 



