THEOEIES.] 



THE DOG, AND ITS VAEIETIES; 



[theories. 



to obtain a proffered reward, by taking this 

 (assuredly unworthy) advantage of their natu- 

 ral submissiveness. That the wolf possesses 

 the mental qualities, and is capable of the same 

 strong attachment to man as the most faithful 

 dog, has been abundantly proved by the ob- 

 servations of M. E. Cuvier and others; and 

 the unremitting persecution to which it has 

 been necessarily subjected in Europe, for so 

 many years, will sufficiently account for the 

 savage and distrustful character which it ex- 

 hibits when unreclaimed; though even then 

 the germs of a better disposition are traceable 

 in the permanent attachment of the male and 

 female, and sociality of the young, till urgent 

 necessity, or the annual period of dominant 

 sexual excitement, subdues every milder pro- 

 pensity and acquired sentiment of friendship 

 jr disinterested affection. 



" Instances occasionally happen of the dog 

 returning by choice to a state of wildness, 

 and assuming then, of necessity, the character 

 ascribed to the wolf. I have known this to 

 occur in a male pointer, and in a female grey- 

 hound : the latter was so fine a specimen of the 

 breed, that, on being entrapped, it was thought 

 desirable to obtain a litter from her, which was 

 accordingly effected; but, while her puppies 

 were very young, she managed to escape to 

 the woods, and never returned : three of her 

 progeny grew to be excellent hounds ; but two 

 others proved quite irreclaimable ; and escaping 

 from servitude, like their dam, were finally shot, 

 for their destructive poaching propensities." 



In the Zoology of Dr. Carpenter, we find it 

 stated that " the common dog is a species of 

 the genus canis, belonging to the family canidce, 

 of the order carnivora, of the class mammalia, 

 and the division vertehmfa. Erom the informa- 

 tion conveyed to us by the term vertehrata, we 

 learn that it has an internal skeleton, with a 

 jointed back-bone and skull, containing the 

 spinal marrow and brain, the centres of the 

 nervous system ; and that it has five senses, 

 four extremities, and red blood. The know- 

 ledge that it is among the class mammalia, 

 implies that it is a warm-blooded animal, 

 breathing air, possessing a heart with four 

 cavities, a complete double circulation, pro- 

 duces its young alive, nourishes them after- 

 wards by suckling, and has the body, more or 

 less, covered with hairs. By referring it to 

 376 



the order car)iivora, we know that it is in its 

 natural state a beast of prey, adapted by the 

 formation of its teeth, and the digestive appa- 

 ratus, to feed upon animal flesh ; and by the 

 structure of the extremities, to pursue and 

 attack the animals which serve as its prey. 

 As one of the family canidce, we know that it 

 resembles, in some respects, the wolves, foxes, 

 jackals, and hyaenas, as well as the cats, iu 

 being digitigrade (that is, in walking on the 

 ends of the toes), and that it differs from the 

 cat in not being so much adapted to destroy 

 its living prey, as to feed upon animals ali'eady 

 killed ; the mouth not being formed so exclu- 

 sively for cutting and tearing as is the cat's, 

 and in the claws being neither so long and 

 sharp, nor capable of being pushed forth or 

 withdrawn, as in the feline tribes. Again, the 

 dog differs from the fox and hyaena in certain 

 peculiarities in the form of the teeth ; but his 

 relationship to the wolf is so close, that many 

 naturalists have regarded them as sprung from 

 the same stock. Then, while the dog belongs 

 to a genus distinct from the hyaena and fox, it 

 is identical with the wolf and jackal in generic 

 character, and it may be that it does not even 

 constitute a species distinct from the wolf. 

 But, while some characters are constant in 

 each race, others may undergo great variation ; 

 so that, within the limits of one species, we 

 may have a large number of varieties, or breeds, 

 marked by difi'erences much greater than those 

 which, in other cases, are held to distinguish 

 species. This is especially the case in domestic 

 animals ; and in none is it shown more strongly 

 than in the dog. How different, for example, 

 are the greyhound, the mastiff, and the blood- 

 hound ! We should scarcely imagine that any 

 period of time, or external influence, could 

 ever convert one of them into the other. Yet 

 the zoologist feels no hesitation in affirming 

 that they had one common origin; since it is 

 found that their distinct forms are preserved 

 only so long as they are matched in breeding 

 with forms of the same kind. Hence there 

 is no difficulty in reconciling the diversities 

 actually existing among the various races of 

 dogs with the idea of one common origin, of 

 which they are modifications. When and how 

 the several breeds arose, is less easily deter- 

 mined." 



Among so many conflicting statements, it is. 



