1 6 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 



appears to have been of moderate size, and, from the posi- 

 tion of the bones, it seems tolerably certain that it lived 

 but a few centuries ago. 



It is clearly a reasonable supposition that some of these 

 primitive canine species may have been far more domestic- 

 able than the existing kindred of the doQf — the wolves, foxes, 

 jackals, or hyenas^ — differing from their fiercer kindred much 

 as the zebras do from the wild asses, the one form being 

 utterly undomesticable, and the other lending its back almost 

 willingly to the burdens which man chooses to impose. It 

 seems likely that this primitive species — perhaps more than 

 one — whence the dog sprang was not a very vigorous or 

 widespread form ; else, as before remarked, a savage would 

 have found it impossible to keep his half-tamed creatures 

 from rejoining their wild kinsmen. Thus, if a man should in 

 this day succeed in taming wolves, in a region where they 

 were plenty, to the point where they began to abide his 

 presence, or even to have some slight affection for him, the 

 call of nature would be likely to lead them back to reunion 

 with their kind. 



It seems pretty certain that the first steps in the domestica- 

 tion of the dog must be attributed not to any distinct purpose 

 of acquiring a useful companion, but to that vague instinct 

 which leads children to make captives of any wild animals with 

 which they come in contact. The fancy for pets is not only 

 common to all mankind, civilized and savage alike, but is 

 clearly exhibited in many of the mammals below the level of 

 man. Almost every one has observed cases where dogs, cats, 

 and horses have become attached to some creature of an 

 alien species with which they have been by chance thrown 

 in contact. The higher the grade of the intelligence, the 



