48 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 



of common knowledge and safely beyond question. From 

 these indices we are able to determine a basis for some 

 important conclusions. These are in effect as follows, viz. : 

 Our domestic dog* is derived from a species, one or more, 

 akin to the wolf, the jackal, and the fox ; to a group of 

 animals not characterized by great native intelligence, but 

 distinguished for their ferocity and their general untamable- 

 ness. There is no reason to believe that the primitive dog 

 had any more foundation for his great attainments than his 

 obstinately savage kindred, except that he may have had a 

 greater disposition to form an attachment to a master. We 

 can hardly believe that he had any share of that marvellous 

 sympathy with man and understanding of his motives which 

 characterize the high-bred varieties of his species. All this 

 vast transformation, which from a psychological point of 

 view has carried the dog relatively as far up above his origin 

 as civilization has lifted man above his lowest estate, has 

 been due to human intercourse and the long and effective 

 concomitant selection of good from bad. It is hardly too 

 much to say that a large part of our human nature has been 

 transferred into the descendants of this ancient wild beast. 

 The sense of property, a great part of human affections, 

 many of the attributes which constitute the gentleman, have 

 been passed over to him. 



In considering the effects arising from the intercourse of 

 man with the dog, we should not overlook the development 

 of human sympathy which has come about through this rela- 

 tion. The fact that the dog has been made by far the most 

 sympathetic of the lower animals, is due to the affection which 

 men for thousands of years have given to him. In his inter- 

 course with this creature, man first learned to develop his 



