2 CASSELL'S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



the usual attitude; :i:nl a low, long-backed, short-legged dog, with erect airs, :i iharp muzzle, and 

 parti -colon red dark, or black and white. It resembles the old turnspit of England, and was probably 

 of the same breed. There is a tall, stout dog, compact and muscular, with high shoulders and broad 

 chest, most probably a watch-dog : it* cars are .small and sharp, and its tail curled like that of a 

 pug-dog ; the muzzle is moderately sharp. There is, moreover, a small, slender dog, with a narrow, 

 sharp nutzrle, and large, erect, and pointed ears, broad at the base ; the tail makes a single loop or 

 curl, and the end in somewhat tufted. Sir J. G. Wilkinson says that the mummies found of these 

 animals are mostly of the fox-dog. In one representation we see fleet hounds in chase of antelopes, 

 wild goats, hysenas, foxes, ostriches, and hares. Some of the dogs have a collar armed with spikes. 

 In some instances the tail of the greyhound appears rather full or fringed. Such then were, at least, 

 some of the domesticated races of Egypt, and doubtless- western Asia. 



The Egyptians were taught by long observation and experience, that as soon as a particular star 

 became visible the Nile would overflow its banks, and, accordingly, on its first appearance, they 

 retreated to their terraces, where they remained until the inundation had subsided. This star 

 was called by them Siltor, afterwards it was named in Latin Sirivs, and subsequently the 



Dog-star. 



" This dog-star," says M. Blaze, " was placed on the limit 01 the northern and southern hemi- 

 spheres. As the equinoctial line seemed to cut it in two, it was divided into two personages, of which 

 one ascended to heaven, the other descended to the infernal regions." Plutarch states that "the circle 

 which touches and separates the two hemispheres, and which, on account of this division, has received 

 the name of ' the horizon,' is called Anubis. It is represented under the form of a dog, because this 

 animal watches during the day and during the night." 



There was a representation of Sirius as the dog-star, on a garnet gem, in Lord Besborough 

 collection. According to the almanacs, the canicular, or dog-days, are a certain number of days 

 preceding and following the heliacal rising of this star in the morning. Their beginning is usually 

 fixed on the -3rd of July, and their termination on the llth of August. The accordance, so far, 

 with a sign of the ancient Egyptians, is not a little curious ; but the fixing of the time involves a 

 mistake, since the heliacal rising of this star does not now take place, at least in our latitude, till nea 

 the end of August, and, in the course of time, Sirius may chance to be accused of bringing in, not 

 extreme heat, but frost and snow, as, owing to the precession of the equinoxes, it will rise, in future 

 aes, in November and December. 



Herodotus states that the satrap of Babylon kept so many Indian dogs, that four c 

 towns in the plain were exempted from all taxes, on condition of providing food for these 



animals. 



Alcibiades had a dog of uncommon size and beauty, which, according to Plutarch, who j 

 story cost seventy mime, and yet his master caused his tail, which was his principal ornament, to be 

 cut off. Some of his friends found fault with so strange an act, and told him all Athens rang wit! 

 folly At which Alcibiades laughed, and said, This is the very thing I wanted ; for I would hav 

 the Athenians talk of this, lest they should find something worse to say of me." 

 anecdote has originated a proverbial metaphor; for when a minor folly or eccentricity is assumed s 

 cloak for a greater one, attempting to throw dust in the eyes of the lookers-on, the pretext paraded- 

 to conceal real motives, intentions, and inclinations is called "the dog of Alcibiades." 

 ( ;,-e,.ks were, at first, acquainted with only two races of dogs of foreign origin the greyhound and the 

 shepherd's, or rather drover's dog, which answered also for hunting and for watching property. At a 

 later period the true mastiffs became known, and the lap-dog of Malta was imported. 



Lucan says to Egypt : 



" In Roman temples we receive thy Isis, 

 And half-clog deities." 



The Romans sacrificed the dog to Anubis, and the lesser dog-star Procyan ; as in Greece, 

 1',,,-erpine, Hecate, Mars, and other imaginary deities were propitiated by similar sacrifices. The 

 image of a dog was placed in Roman houses to guard their domestic idols the Penates. 



The carnivorous propensities of the dog are evident, from many passages of Scripture. Hence, 

 there was the Mosaic law : " Neither shall ye eat any flesh 'that is torn by beasts ; ye shall cast it to 



