10 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE DOG. 



would be naturally led to meditate over other animal races, as 

 well as a devoted and interesting companion. Indeed, his protec- 

 tion against the rapacity of other animals could hardly be ob- 

 tained by any other than this canine compact : neither is it too 

 much to assert, that but for this he could never have extended his 

 conquest over other brute races, or, having effected it, it would 

 have been utterly impossible to have maintained it. In great 

 truth, therefore, the subjugation and domestication of the dog may 

 be called the triumph of reason over nature ; and, as observed by 

 Baron Cuvier, it is the most complete, singular, and useful con- 

 quest man has ever made. Viewed in these several relations, our 

 inquiries concerning the dog necessarily embrace, first, his natural 

 history, properly so called ; and, secondly, his artificial history, 

 or the alterations effected in hion hy his domestication with 

 man. 



The natural history of an animal is most satisfactorily com- 

 menced by inquiries into its direct origin ; and in this instance 

 it would bo. peculiarly gratifying to trace the source from whence 

 has been derived a race now so extensively diffused among us ; 

 and one that is become not more important by the value of its 

 services, than interesting by its amiable and companionable quali- 

 ties. But, unfortunately, we have to lament, that around the 

 descent of no quadruped does there hang so much obscurity as 

 about that of the dog ; and however reason and analogy may lead 

 us to conclude him an original animal, and however well con- 

 vinced the majority may be that he is so, yet the subject is so 

 beset with difficulties and contradictory appearances, that we can- 

 not wonder at the doubts which exist in the minds of others on 

 the subject. Some eminent naturalists have even doubted whe- 

 ther the dog be not wholly a factitious animal ; one not acknow- 

 ledged by the great Architect of Nature, but altogether com- 

 pounded from such spurious sources as the intermixture of various 

 nearly-allied animals. Others have allowed him a more direct 

 lineage, by confining his descent to one among those which com- 

 pos© the genus in which he is placed : thus, some have considered 



