OF NATURAL HISTORY. 47* 



From fa<Sts of this kind, of which a great number might 

 be mentioned, the following obfervations natui-ally arifc. 

 Thefe Chinefe dogs, though defcended, probably for many 

 generations, from a race of anceftors who never had the 

 leafi: experience or education in hunting, preferved their 

 original inftin£t of fcenting and purfuing game. The dog 

 is a grofsly carnivorous animal ; for he prefers carion to any 

 other kind of nourifhment •, yet the Chinefe dogs difcovered 

 no particular relifli for the flefli of animals. Thus it ap- 

 pears, that, by habits, acquired, not by the individual, but 

 by a train of anceftors, both the tafte and the conftitution of 

 animals may be greatly altered. From the fame fa£t:s, how- 

 ever, it is equally evident, that Nature can n^ver be entirely 

 conquered. The moment the Chinefe dogs firfl faw a field, 

 they both fcented and hunted game. Imitation and habit 

 feem to have greater efFcdls upon the m.ode of living, feed- 

 ing, and the corporeal fabrick, than upon the original inftincSls 

 of the mind. Thefe dogs, even when they came to Eng- 

 land after a long voyage, had not acquired the habit of gree- 

 dily devouring, like other dogs, either frefli meat or carion 5 

 but, on the firft opportunity afforded to them, they difcover- 

 ed an inclination to hunt. 



