PAET I. 

 THE DOG IN HEALTH. 



THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE DOG. 



IN order to understand an individual of any species of 

 animals, it is important not only to know the circumstances 

 under which it lives, but its past history ; and the further 

 and the more completely this can be traced the better, in- 

 asmuch as the particular animal under consideration may 

 be regarded as the outcome or resultant of a vast number 

 of forces extending back in fact to the origin of life itself. 



To illustrate, suppose one finds that a certain grey- 

 hound for several successive years wins in the old-estab- 

 lished English courses, we inquire why this particular dog 

 has won. He may not seem superior in form of body to 

 others that he surpasses in speed, but it is perhaps found 

 that in his ancestry there is a long line of those that have 

 excelled in this respect. This goes a long way to explain 

 the pre-eminence of this dog. Then we may take up the 

 general superiority in fleetness of this breed, and this leads 

 to its origin and history. For ages the best and swiftest 

 have been chosen to breed from, and in all probability, from 

 the earliest times that man possessed the dog, this process 



