750 THE DOtt. 



minnow tribe, having been put when young into a small jar 

 of water, never increased in size, but remained suited, in 

 their dimensions, to the little space allotted to them. After 

 the lapse of nine years, they were transferred to a larger 

 jar, and immediately began to increase in bulk of body, until 

 they attained their natural size. The progressive adapta- 

 tion of the Bog, then, to new conditions of life, presents no 

 anomaly, but illustrates a law common in the animal king- 

 dom, though, as the changes produced in his physical con- 

 formation exert a sensible action on his temperament, habits, 

 and 'faculties, they are calculated to excite peculiar interest. 

 Whether we assume that all dogs have been derived from 

 some common stock, and have acquired their distinctive cha- 

 racters under the effects of domestication, or whether we 

 assume that they have acquired the characters which we 

 term specific in the state of nature, we equally reason upon 

 the assumption that the animals have, in a certain degree, 

 become adapted, with respect to form and attributes, to the 

 conditions affecting them. 



As the natural history of the Dog may supply us with 

 subjects for physiological inquiry, so it may afford us matter 

 for reflection regarding the mental attributes of the Dog in 

 particular, and of the lower orders of animals in general. 

 Eager disputes, it is known, have arisen, in every period of 

 metaphysical inquiry, regarding the precincts of Instinct and 

 Reason. By not a few philosophers it has been contended, 

 that the actions of all the animals inferior to man are the 

 result solely of what is termed instinct, and that these crea- 

 tures have not the power to compare, to reflect, to will, or to 

 draw conclusions of any sort, but are impelled bv the train 

 of their ideas, or by some unknown influence, to act precisely 

 as they do. Bat does our observation of the Dog afford the 

 least support to such a hypothesis, or rather, does it not 

 refute it at every point I Not only do we recognise in this 

 creature senses like our own, and, in certain cases, more 

 perfect than ours, but we see these senses adapted by 



