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rOli MOUxNlAlX, I'"ii:LI), AMJ I'Alt.M 



[tiieoriks. 



perhaps, utterly impossible to determine the 

 true orii,Mii of the dog. Mr. JJi-ll, and otliers, 

 argue for the wolf theoi-)'. ^Mr. Hodgson 

 and others do the same for the primilivo wild 

 dog theory ; and Professor Kreisehner does 

 the same for the jackal theory. Ho says that 

 there is a kind of jackal in the Prankfort 

 jMnseum, exemplifying ail the types of the 

 ancient Egyptian dog. To this tlicory of the 

 jackal, however, we cannot, for a moment, lend 

 ourselves. To be sure, it is said that the 

 manners of this animal bear a very close 

 resemblance to those of the dog. When taken 

 young it soon becomes domesticated ; attaches 

 itself to mankind, wags its tail when pleased, 

 and distinguishes its master from other persons. 

 It likes to be fondled and patted with the hand ; 

 and, when called by name, will answer to it, 

 and leap on a chair. It drinks as the dog 

 does, by lapping, and it will eat readily from 

 the hand : it is even fond of playing with 

 dogs, and eats bread with eagerness. These 

 qualities induced Mr. Pennant to think, with 

 Professor Kreisehner, that the various races of 

 the dog were indebted to the jackal for their 

 origin. To this pleasing canine portrait, how- 

 ever, that of Bufi'on presents a very great con- 

 trast, lie says that the jackal is stupid and 

 voracious ; that it is very difficult to be tamed ; 

 and that he had one which was kept for nearly 

 a year, when neither food nor caresses could 

 mollify the fierceness of its disposition. Al- 

 though it had been taken young, and reared 

 with the utmost care, it would suffer no one 

 to touch it, and would bite at any one indis- 

 criminately. "When occasionally allowed a 

 little liberty, it amused itself by leaping on the 

 tables, and devouring everything suitable to its 

 palate. Its voracity, he says, was enormous. 

 If it could get notliing better, it would eat 

 the leatlier for harness, and boots or shoes. It 

 would eat the most putrid bodies, disinter the 

 dead, attend caravans, and follow armies, to 

 feast on the remains of the fallen or the slain. 

 Sucli a brute does not appear, to our miud, to 

 exhibit a single trait of the dog, to the extent 

 that would lead us to coincide with the theory 

 which would place the jackal as the original of 

 that generous animal; but, as the opinions of 

 eminent naturalists are so different from each 

 other, it is difficult to decide between them. 

 Another theory advanced is, that the 

 3c 



shepherd's dog is the origuial typo; but it ia 

 thus combated by Mr. Jtichardsou : — 



"Many naturalists, uiid tlieso natives of dif- 

 ferent countries, have advanced this theory, 

 and still they have all employed the one desig- 

 nation in indicating their favourite tyj)e -viz., 

 the shepherd's dog. I must here first take the 

 liberty of inquiring tvhat shepherd's docjf for 

 shepherds' dogs differ most materially ft-om each 

 other. Buffon stood up for the originalitv of 

 the matin, or shepherd's dog of his own 

 country. Later writers, copying more or lesB 

 from him, have adhered to the theory of the 

 sheep-dog origin, while they have forgottou 

 the diflerence which exists between their own 

 national sheep-dogs and those indicated by 

 Buflbn. Truly there exists but little simili- 

 tude between the tailless, woolly-looking ani- 

 mal, the sheep-dog of England, the fox-like 

 colley of Scotland, the gaunt and short-haired 

 cur of Ireland, the matin of Buffon, the noble, 

 stately, and powerful sheep-dog of the Pyre- 

 nees, the guardian of the flocks of the Abruzzi, 

 the gigantic mastifls, the herd-dogs of the 

 Himalaya mountains, and, in short, between 

 various other sorts of sheep-dog, used for tend- 

 ing flocks in as various portions of the known 

 world. Shall we assume the original type to 

 have been the sheep-dog or matin of France, 

 or the more graceful colley of Scotland } Are 

 we to believe that a brace of either of these 

 dogs were the progenitors of tlie entire canine 

 race ? Did the gigantic boar-dog, the noble 

 JS'ewfoun aland, the courageous and powerful 

 mastiff, the slender and rapid greyhound, the 

 stunted yet formidable bulldog, the diminutive 

 and sensitive Blenheim spaniel, and the still 

 more diminutive, and now almost extinct, lion- 

 dog of Malta — all arise from a brace of curs ? 

 If they did, to what now are we to attribute 

 the varieties at present existing ? We are 

 told to climate and breeding. As to breediufr, 

 how could it operate when there was but a 

 single pair to breed from ? How, if the varie- 

 ties of the dog proceeded but from one original 

 type, could development thus be produced, 

 extending beyond the limits of the faculties 

 and powers proper to that type ? Will change 

 of climate ever convert a greyhound into a 

 bulldog? AVill it truncate tiie muzzle, raise 

 the frontal bones, enlarge the frontal sinuses, 

 or effect a positive alteration of the posterior 



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