326 HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 



applied. We have seen, in the history of the Cow 

 and the Sbeep, that those animals which have been 

 long under the management of man, never preserve 

 the stamp of Nature in its original purity. In wild 

 animals, which still enjoy their natural freedom 

 from restraint, and have the independent choice 

 of food and climate, this impression is still faith- 

 fully preserved ; but those which man has subdued, 

 transported from climate to climate, and changed 

 their food, habits, and manner of living, must neces- 

 sarily have suffered the greatest alterations in their 

 form; and as the Dog, of all other domestic animals, 

 is most accustomed to this influence, is endowed 

 with dispositions the most docile and obedient, is 

 susceptible of every impression, and submissive to 

 every restraint, we need not wonder that he should 

 be subject to the greatest variety. To an attentive 

 observer of the canine race, it is truly wonderful and 

 curious to observe the rapid changes and singular 

 combinations of forms, arising from promiscuous in- 

 tercourse, which every where present themselves : 

 they appear in endless succession, and seem more 

 like the effect of whimsical caprice than the regular 

 and uniform production of Nature, rendering every 

 idea of a systematic arrangement dubious and pro- 

 blematical : but in whatever light we consider the 

 various mixtures which at present abound, we may 

 fairly presume, that the services of the Shepherd's 

 Dog would be first required in maintaining and pre- 

 serving the superiority of man over those animals 

 which were destined for his support. 



