2 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
and go out to the field and take (Hebrew ‘ hunt’) me some 
venison,” though it by no means follows that this was the usual 
way of killing game at that time, the commands of the 
patriarch, and the particular mention of the weapons to be 
employed, seeming to indicate extreme haste. 
That there were shepherd dogs at a very early date is evi- 
denced from Job xxx. 1,—probably the most ancient book extant, 
supposed by many to be even before the time of Abraham,—in 
which the ‘‘dogs of my flock” are specially mentioned. In 
Proverbs xxx. 31, and after the exodus of the children of Israel 
from Egypt, occurs also that curious text, ‘‘a greyhound; an he 
goat also; and a king, against whom there is no rising up.” 
Unfortunately, the word “ greyhound” is a mistranslation, the 
Hebrew being ‘‘ one girt about the loins.” Some refer it to the 
horse. Both German editions of the Bible, however, render the 
word “‘ dog,” and as such the fact is worth recording. How the 
word “‘ greyhound” has crept into our version I am unable to 
explain; it being the only passage in the Bible wherein a 
special breed of dog is mentioned. I only allude to it, however, 
in order to show that the text has not escaped my observation. 
The words in Isaiah lvi. 10, ‘‘ They are all dumb dogs, they 
cannot bark,” would seem to show that at that time dogs were 
used as a watch for houses, especially when taken in conjunction 
with the preceding words, ‘‘ His watchmen are blind.” This was 
certainly the case later on, in the time of our Saviour, the 
words, ‘Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from their 
master’s table” (Matt. xv. 27), showing unquestionably that dogs 
were then allowed not only in the house, but at the best table, 
i.e., the master’s, the article (tas xuvapiois) implying the presence 
of dogs, or rather little dogs or puppies. 
It is to be regretted that there is no Hebrew version of the 
Book of Tobit, or possibly the breed of dog there referred to may 
have been mentioned. As it is, the word in both texts (Tobit v. 
16; xi. 4) is simply a. Assuming the genuineness of the 
book, and up to the present time no valid reason has been shown 
to the contrary, the information contained in these texts is 
valuable, as showing that the dog was at that time known as the 
friend and companion of man. 
It would seem, also, that although the dog was unclean to the 
Jews, yet it had a certain value in their eyes, and that it was 
