LAWS OF HEREDITY. 17 



those pecnliarities to tlieir offspring. For example, the wolf, possessing a 

 most remarkably acute sense of smell, when crossed by the union of a clog 

 ■with a female wolf, results in a progeny with a marked excellence of scent. 

 Of course traces of other wolf characteristics, etc., are, to a greater or less 

 extent, found in the progeny, through successive generations, such as resem- 

 hlance in form, countenance or expression, disposition, etc. Domestic life, to 

 some extent, softens their savage nature; but there is one peculiarity that 

 always attaches to them, and is retained for many successive generations — 

 which is their suspicion. When a dog of this cross is called by his master, 

 no matter how familiar he may be M^ith him, he will never approach him in a 

 straight line, as dogs usually do, but will take a more or less zigzag course. It 

 is said such dogs never wholly lay aside this peculiarity. 



It may be stated, as an incontrovertible proposition, that nearly, if not all, 

 the inclinations resulting from education, climate, mode of life, or food, after 

 having been converted into fixed habits, and cultivated for two or three suc- 

 cessive generations, become hereditary, and are capable of being transmitted.^ 

 The descendants will often so display them from birth that it is impossible to 

 distinguish the acquired qualities from those which are more inherent in their 

 constitution. Hence, it is obvious that in those animals which have been able 

 (by reason of local advantages, etc., etc.) to freely cultivate and develop their 

 faculties aud powers, individuals may transmit to their offspring dispositions 

 and qualities, both of body and mind, superior to those with which they them- 

 selves were naturally endowed. 



Naturally, shepherd dogs seldom have a fine nose. For generations they 

 were scarcely ever called to exercise the sense of scent ; hence, it became 

 obtuse. Although they are quick of perception, hearing and sight, and natu- 

 rally possessed of an extraordinary amount of intelligence, augmented by 

 constant association with their master, aud notwithstanding their docility, 

 which is inborn, it is nearly impossible to find a good hunting dog among 

 them, for the sole reason that they are usually deficient in that most essential 

 quality for that use — that of scent. Yet I have known of instances where the 

 shepherd dog has shown evidence of the possession of an acute sense of scent, 

 and, in hunting quail or chicken, nearlj--, if not quite, equal to most pointers 

 and setters; but this was the result of cultivation and training through suc- 

 cessive generations. A peculiarity in this regard — which should be observed 

 "by breeders of improved stock — is, that among qualities or habits, those which 

 are most certainly acquired, and afterward transmitted hereditarih% may, and 

 often do, assume an equal character of spontaneity with the disposition and 

 qualities most inherent in the animal. True, those races of dogs which have 

 heen trained for several successive generations to seize and fetch game, mani- 

 fest, from their birth almost, these two dispositions. Yet, it must be admitted 

 that it is not strictly natural to them ; on the contrary, the more natural incli- 

 nation of this carnivorous animal would be to seize and devour the game. In 

 the well-trained dog, however, these dispositions to kill and eat become 

 weaker, and will finally disappear entirely when discouraged and neglected 

 for several generations. But equally so do those which proceed even more 

 dii-ectly from nature. Take, for instance, the wild rabbit ; his natural disposi- 



