20 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE DOG. 



these dogs may be seen figured in our Encyclopcedia of Rural 

 Sports, 



form of his body. The head was rendered flat and pointed, to offer less re- 

 sistance to the wind, and to subtract from its weight : the chest was consider- 

 ably deepened, somewhat at the expense of its general circular capacity, but 

 without wholly destroying its segmental flexure of rib ; by which respiration 

 could be increased, although both weight and resistance were decreased. The 

 abdomen became wonderfully contracted, and its intestinal contents so devoid 

 of all interstitial matter, as to offer little obstruction to the momentum of the 

 machine, and little obstacle to the dilatations of the diaphragm. The extre- 

 mities were at once fined and greatly extended, and their angles rendered ca- 

 pable of great extension by lengthening those portions which were principally 

 concerned in propelling the machine, and shortening those which operated 

 more in support than progression : thus it is with the greyhound, as with all 

 animals of great speed, that the knee and the hock are both placed by nature 

 very near the ground, dependent on the curtailment of the intervening por- 

 tions. The muscles of the back, loins, and thighs in the greyhound are sin- 

 gularly large ; and thus all these advantages of the bony mechanism can be 

 assisted by an increase of moving power. But, that this increase of velocity 

 gained might not destroy the equality between the pursuer and the pursued, 

 which is an invariable law in nature, it followed that the head becoming long 

 and pointed, occasioned such contraction of the frontal sinuses as to injure the 

 sense of acute smell, and to annul the power of following the game by scent ; 

 and the greyhound is therefore now forced to trust to his vision alone, which 

 at once brings him and his prey more on a par with each other. This cranial 

 alteration appears also to have some effect on the faculties of this dog, by les- 

 sening the aptitude to education, and confining the general intelligence ; but 

 it does not do it in the degree that some naturalists would imply. 



The English greyhound is undoubtedly a dog of very ancient origin. Se- 

 venteen centuries ago he was well known, and even before that time was 

 cherished and applied to the coursing of hares. We should suppose that 

 few of our readers are totally unacquainted with the classic tales of the ancient 

 writers of notoriety, and consequently they cannot fail to remember the ac- 

 counts of the huntings which these worthies had been engaged in, and the 

 canine assistants they employed thereon. Of these huntings ^^ perforce" we 

 have some accounts ; in which, as may be supposed, large and very fierce dogs 

 were employed, because large and fierce animals formed the game hunted in 

 those times. But our present business lies with those animals which, if smaller 

 and much weaker, were nevertheless much swifter. Many partial notices, how- 

 ever, of the early huntings have reached us, handed down by one or other of 



