OUDER V. THE CAKNIVORA. 51 



structure, in tlic same family, liave little or no similarity in what may bo 

 called the moral and mental qualities, ^\'hile the anatomy, or osseous struc- 

 ture of the wolf and Siicplierd's Dog is so exactly similar that naturalists 

 cannot tell from an examination t)f the bones whether they belonged to the 

 one or the either, the moral and intellectual diflerenccs that distinguish 

 them are of most marked character. An immeasurable distance, for ex- 

 ample, divides the fierce and only half-tamal)le wolf and the ferocious and 

 intractable hvena on the one hand, from our gentle, intelligent, and fiith- 

 ful domestic dogs on the other. And yet some naturalists have done the 

 dog the injustice to propose the theory, that he is a descendant of the wolf 

 or the hyena, or possiiily of both. The (piestion of the origin of domestic 

 dogs has been largely discussed, but we have not been able to find in any 

 Natural History a resolution of it which is entirely free from objection. 



It has been well said that dogs have innate qualities, such as the keenness 

 of scent, and natural impulse to chase, as in the Hound; the ardor to seek, 

 and tlic desire of finding, as in the Spaniel and Pointer ; and the turn for 

 watching and guarding, as in the ^lastiff and Sheep Dog. These are nat- 

 ural, not artificial qualities, developed in given directions by education, and 

 cannot be transferred to other races at will. And above all they have 

 moral attributes, strong and enduring afi'ections, fidelity, gratitude, benevo- 

 lence, and an intelligence almost human, all which are inborn, and not 

 the result of education ; attributes, in a word, which no disci[iline could 

 ever impart to the hyena, the wolf, or the jackal. No mode has ever 

 been discovered by which a hyena may be tamed ; and the jackal has not 

 exhibited much tractability. A few instances are recorded of wolves having 

 been domesticated, and showing attachment to their master like the dog, 

 whence it has been conjectured that the wolf may have been his progenitor, 

 crossed with the jackal, the fox, and hyena. Now, it is not sup[iosable 

 that a superior race can spring from an inferior, and it is difficult to believe 

 that so noble an animal as the doir could have had an oriirin so iirnolde. 



o Co 



The oriiiinal race or races of doirs must have possessed the same liiiih 

 qualities that distinguish their descendants to-day. To affirm that the dog 

 is a civilized wolf, is as absurd as to assert that the intelligent Caucasian 

 is an off-shoot from, and an improved species of, the negro race. 



But there is another remarkable peculiarity of the domestic dog which 

 must not be overlooked. We mean his capacity for civilization and domes- 

 tication as a race. Herein is seen his superiority to, and his iihsolate 

 distiucfnvssfrom. all those animals with which it has been said he is so 

 nearly related. Individual wolves have been tamed, as well as many other 

 animals, but the race, as a race, cannot be subdued to civilization ; the dog, 

 on the contrary, — the whole race has been the constant companion of man 



