THEORIES.] 



FOK MOUNTAIN, FIELD, AND FARM. 



[rnEonras. 



(loi^s as have boon thus ilrivon into tonil and 

 independeiit litV, will be found evor ready to 

 acknowledge the control of man, and may, 

 with comparatively little trouble, bo induced 

 to return to their allegiance to him. Nor will 

 the whelps of such re-domcslicatcd dogs bo 

 horn wild, as is the case with the cubs of the 

 tamest wolves. In the case of these dogs, 

 circumstances, and not natural instinct, have 

 driven them wild ; and these circumstances 

 ceasing to operate, domestication returns. 



" How does it happen that the dog is to be 

 met with in every quarter of the globe to 

 which man has penetrated, while the true wolf 

 aas never yet been met with south of the 

 equator? Further, are not several distinct 

 species of wolf admitted to exist ? * Is there 

 not more than one distinct species of wolf 

 admitted by naturalists to exist in North 

 America alone ? It has not even been at- 

 tempted to be proved that these species are 

 identical ; their distinctness has been more 

 than tacitly admitted. Yet they resemble 

 each other far more closely than any wolf 

 does the dog. Has the dog, then, been 

 derived from each and all of these wolves ; or 

 has the original wolf, origin alike of wolf 

 and dog, been yet properly indicated ? Should 

 not this fact be duly ascertained prior to that 

 in question ? 



" The wolf and the dog will not breed toge- 

 ther in a state of nature. In their native 

 forests they clearly will not, or the wild dog 

 would not still remain distinct from the wolf, 

 whose lair is in the immediate neighbourhood 

 of his own. Man's effort and skill, combined 

 with partial domestication, may, indeed, in- 

 duce a union between them ; but naturally 

 they shun each other, and mutually exhibit a 

 strong natural antipathy.f Nor will these 

 animals — the wolf and the dog — breed together, 

 unless one of them, at least, be thoroughly 

 domesticated. How else have all attempts to 

 produce a breed between the wolf and Austra- 

 lian dingo so signally failed ? " 



The simple breeding together of animals, 

 and the fertility of their offspring, is not a 

 sufficient proof of identity of species. Mr. 

 Hodgson has shown that the cajpra iliaral — 



* We have shown this in our previous pages. 

 t This we have also shown in our illustrative anec- 

 dotes. 



the goat of Nepaul — and the domestic goat 

 will breed together. The hunchbacked zebu, 

 of India, will breed with our common cattle, 

 and the off>*pring is prolific. Pallas has stated 

 that, in various parts of Russia, the sheep and 

 the goat have bred together ; whilst Chinese 

 and European pigs, differing, according to 

 Mr. Eyton, in important osteological particu- 

 lars, will do so likewise. 



In The Animal Kingdom, arranged after its 

 Organisation, by Baron Cuvier, the following 

 opinions, translated by Mr. Blyth, are given 

 by that distinguished naturalist upon this sub- 

 ject. Speaking of the dog, and his supposed 

 subjugation to the power and intelligence of 

 man, he says, — "Tiie domestic dog is the most 

 complete, the most singular, and most useful 

 conquest ever made by man, the whole species 

 having become his property. Each individual 

 is devoted to its particular master, assumes his 

 manners, knows and defends his property, and 

 remains attached to him until death ; and all 

 this, neither from constraint nor want, but 

 solely from gratitude and pure friendship. 

 The swiftness, strength, and scent of the dog 

 have rendered him a powerful ally to man 

 against other animals, and were even, perhaps, 

 necessary to the establishment of society." 



In reference to the origin of the dog, Mr. 

 Blyth, in a note to his translation of the Baron's 

 Regne Animal, argues in favour of the wolf 

 theory. He says — " If the idea, which I con- 

 ceive there is every reason to entertain, 

 respecting the origin of the domestic dog be 

 well founded, it is clear that a recurrence to a 

 single wild type would be impossible. The 

 dog is apparently a blended race, derived prin- 

 cipally from the wolf, and partly from various 

 other allied species. In the museum of the 

 Zoological Society of London, there is a spe- 

 cimen of an Esquimaux dog (C. nulilus), which 

 resembles the large American wolf so closely, 

 that there can scarcely be any doubt of the 

 connection which subsists between them ; and 

 it is well known, of the American wolves in 

 particular, that if a young animal bo surprised 

 by a hunter, and suddenly menaced by his 

 voice and manner, it will crouch to him, and 

 implore his mercy in precisely the manner of 

 a spaniel ; so that only a little encouragement 

 and kindness is required to gain its permanent 

 attachment. Indeed many of them are killed 



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