VARIETIES OF MANKIND. 



1300 



species being defined by the preservation of 

 its characters through successive genera- 

 tions and under all circumstances ; the only 

 exception to this general statement, being in 

 the case of the domestic cat, which, like the 

 dog, passes into numerous varieties, none of 

 which, however, show an approximation to 

 the characters of any other species. Hence, 

 notwithstanding the extent of variation pre- 

 sented among dogs, the characters of the 

 breeds do not bear a specific value ; for an 

 amount of variation may be seen among the 

 successive generations of the same breed, how- 

 ever pure it may be kept, or even among the 

 offspring of the same litter, quite sufficient to 

 show that a strong capacity for modification 

 exists in this species. It would not be diffi- 

 cult, moreover, to bring together a series of 

 individuals, that should connect the most ex- 

 treme forms by imperceptible gradations ; all 

 the different races breed together with the 

 most complete freedom ; and, as already re- 

 marked, there is a continual tendency amongst 

 them, if they escape from the influence of 

 man, and intermingle unrestrainedly in a state 

 approaching to their original wildness, to a 

 return to one uniform type of configuration 

 and of hue. Further, whatever their other 

 differences in psychical character, we find that 

 they all agree in that tendency to association 

 with man, which is pretty obviously the chief 

 source of those diversities ; the most impor- 

 tant departures from the natural habits of a 

 wild race, being those which have been im- 

 pressed upon the several breeds by a long 

 course of training, whose influence has been 

 transmitted, to a certain extent, from one 

 generation to another. We have seen that, 

 in particular races of dogs existing in a half 

 wild state, the force of circumstances, without 

 any human intervention, has developed a new 

 instinct, which has become hereditary within 

 a few generations ; and there can be no diffi- 

 culty in understanding, therefore, that the 

 psychical as well as the physical characters 

 of the dog may have undergone a far more 

 marked alteration, in the prolonged period 

 during which he has been under the influence 

 of man. However considerable, then, are the 

 anatomical and psychological differences of the 

 most diverse breeds, these are perpetuated 

 only by the agency of man, and tend to 

 merge themselves in a common type as soon 

 as this is withdrawn ; and through all these 

 changes, the physiological conformity, as 

 marked especially by the generative function, 

 is constantly preserved. And thus it may be 

 unhesitatingly asserted, that there is no such 

 clear and well-marked natural distinction be- 

 tween the several breeds of dogs, as can serve 

 to justify the assignment of a separate parent- 

 age to any of them. 



The question next arises, whether the dog 

 is a domesticated form of any other species 

 of the genus Canis, e. g. the wolf, the fox, 

 or the jackal ; or whether it is descended 

 from an original wild stock, which has sub- 

 sequently become extinct. Now the fox 

 may be at once excluded, as differing in the 



vertical elongation of the pupil, the peculiar 

 bushiness of the tail, and in other charac- 

 ters. The affinity of the dog to the jackal 

 is certainly not so close as that which it 

 bears to the wolf; and there are many dis- 

 tinguished naturalists who regard the latter 

 as its original. In support of this view, the 

 following considerations may be urged. No 

 specific character has yet been framed so as to 

 be equally applicable to all the breeds of dogs, 

 which does not include the wolf also ; and it 

 does not seem likely that any valid specific 

 distinction can be established upon anatomical 

 grounds only. The various races of wild 

 dogs, in proportion to their entire emancipa- 

 tion from the influence of man, exhibit more 

 and more of the lank and gaunt form, the 

 lengthened limbs, the long and slender muzzle, 

 and the great comparative strength, which cha- 

 racterise the wolf; and in the dingo of Aus- 

 tralia, which presents these peculiarities in the 

 most marked degree, and which may be con- 

 sidered as the most remote from a state of do- 

 mestication, the tail assumes the slightly bushy 

 form of that of the wolf. In no point of its 

 osteology does the wolf differ more from 

 dogs in general, than they differ from each 

 other; and the interval, in fact, is much less 

 between the wolf and the races of dogs just 

 alluded to, than it is between these and the 

 races which most strongly exhibit the influ- 

 ence of domestication. Further, the wolf 

 and the dog readily breed together, and their 

 progeny is fertile with either of the parent 

 races ; but whether the hybrids thus produced 

 are fertile with each other, and a new race 

 can be thus established, has not yet been 

 ascertained. The term of utero-gestation is 

 the same for the wolf as for the dog, viz. 

 sixty-three days ; that of the jackal, on the 

 other hand, is but fifty-nine. It is a remark- 

 able fact, that the habit of barking is pe- 

 culiar to dogs which have been accustomed 

 to intimate association with Man ; and, like 

 variety of colour, it is soon induced in the 

 progeny of those to whom it is not natural, 

 when these are reared in a state of domes- 

 tication. Thus, the puppies of the Esqui- 

 maux dogs brought home by our Arctic ex- 

 plorers, being accustomed to the sound of the 

 human voice from the earliest period, learn 

 to bark, whilst their parents remain confined 

 to their original sounds. 



The principal objection to the idea of the 

 specific identity of the two races, lies in 

 their difference of psychical character; the 

 wolf being apparently altogether destitute of 

 that disposition to attach itself to man, and 

 of that capacity of modification under his in- 

 fluence, which is so marked a feature in the 

 nature of the dog. It has been asserted that 

 the wolf is so untameably savage, that it 

 would require ages of domestication to render 

 it even moderately tractable, if, indeed it 

 could ever be brought under subjection. 

 Such an assertion, however, does not seem 

 borne out by facts. Mr. T. Bell * relates an 



* British Quadrupeds, p. 199. 



