THE DOG. 49 



Llood, and are sure to show him no mercy. The 

 dog, even in his savage state, is not cruel: he is 

 easily tamed, and continues firmly attached to his 

 master: the wolf, when taken young, sometimes be- 

 comes tame, but has never any attachment. 



The ancients asserted, that the wolf and the dog 

 would breed together; nor is in fact this idea con* 

 fined to the naturalists of antiquity, as the same doc- 

 trine is strongly argued by many of the modern?. 

 The celebrated Mr. John Hunter was of this opi- 

 nion, and further remarked, that the jackal (as well 

 as the wolf and fox) would engender with the dog. 

 However, it does not appear, from what he has writ- 

 ten on this subject (at least what I have seen) that he 

 was ever able to demonstrate it by actual experience. 

 It is true, he brings forward a considerable body of 

 second-hand evidence, which from his manner he no 

 doubt believed himself; but, I must confess, it by 

 no means convinces me, particularly when a direct 

 proof of the contrary was absolutely obtained by that 

 great naturalist, Buffon. The latter assures us, that 

 all his endeavours to induce the dog and the wolf to 

 engender were ineffectual. He bred up for this pur- 

 pose a young wolf, which was taken in the woods at 

 two months old, with a matin dog of the same age. 

 They neither of them knew any other individual of 

 their kind, nor even any other man but he who had 

 the charge of feeding them. In this manner they 

 were kept for three years, without constraining or 

 tying either of them up. During the first year the 



D 



