14 INTRODUCTION. 



but from an accidental union of other animals, as the 

 wolf, fox, and jackal. 



Gulden STiEDT also attributes the origin of the dog to 

 the jackal, whose teeth and caecum he found exactly 

 like those of the dog, but less like those of the fox, 

 and totally dissimilar to those organs in the wolf and 

 hysena. The jackal, he observes, waters sideways 

 like the dog ^ ; is easily reclaimed from a wild state to 

 own a name, wag his tail, and exhibit a fondness for 

 his master. Jackals hunt also in packs, and it is sup- 

 posed, from some sounds they utter, that the bark is 

 inherent in their voices. From a few coincidences of 

 personal similitudes, but more particularly from a gene- 

 ralization of recorded facts, relative to the habits and 

 manners of the jackal, some other respectable natu- 

 ralists have also been led to a similar conclusion with 

 those last quoted. 



It may be remarked, that the zoologists of former 

 days laboured under a manifest disadvantage in framing 

 a satisfactory and systematic arrangement of their sub- 

 ject. In the absence of more conclusive evidence, they 

 were forced to resort to the aids of such general opera- 

 tions of nature as had been recorded by unphilosophic 

 travellers, or to a few parallels of exterior resemblance 

 drawn from their own observation. Throughout every 

 page of Nature's history, harmony and uniformity are 

 strikingly apparent : the gradations (of animal life par- 

 ticularly), instead of having their boundaries distinctly 

 marked, slide into each other with scarcely perceptible 

 shades. This uniformity has in itself tended to increase 

 the difficulties of zoological arrangement, and to em- 

 barrass the labours of naturalists. Fortunately for those 



5 " Odeiat amim alterius; coliaerct copula junclus." — Nov. Com- 

 ment. Petrop. vol. XX, p. 450, tab. xi. 



