4 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
was also of incalculable service in guarding the flocks and herds 
from the depredations of the Carnivora, and even man himself was 
often glad to have recoursé’to his courage and strength in resist- 
ing the lion, the tiger, or the wolf. 
Much has been written on the origin of the dog, and Pennant, 
Buffon, and other naturalists, have exhausted their powers of re- 
search and invention in attempting to discover the parent stock 
from which all are descended. The subject, however, is wrapped 
in so much obscurity as to baffle all their efforts, and it is still a 
disputed point whether the shepherd’s dog, as supposed by Buffon 
and Daniel, or the wolf, as conjectured by Bell, is the progenitor 
of the various breeds now existing. Anyhow, itis a most unprofit- 
able speculation, and, being unsupported by proof of any kind, it 
can never be settled upon any reliable basis. We shall not, there- 
fore, waste any space in entering upon this discussion, but leave 
our readers to investigate the inquiry, if they think fit, in the pages 
of Butfon, Linnzus,; Pennant, and Cuvier, and our most recent 
investigator, Professor Bell. It may, however, be observed" that 
the old hypothesis of Pennant, that the dog is only a domesticated 
jackal, crossed with the wolf or fox, though resuscitated by Mr. 
Bell, is now almost entirely exploded; for while it accounts some- 
what ingeniously for the varieties which are met with, yet it is 
contradicted by the stubborn fact that, in the present day, the 
cross of the dog with either of these animals, if produced, is incap- 
able of continuing the species when paired with one of the same 
cross. breed. Nevertheless, it may be desirable to give Mr. Bell’s 
reasons for thinking that the dog is descended from the wolf, which 
are as follows :— 
“In order to come to any rational conclusion on this head, it 
will be necessary to ascertain to what type the animal approaches 
most nearly, after having for many successive generations existed 
in a wild state, removed from the influence of domestication and of 
association with mankind. Now we find that there are several 
different instances of the existence in dogs of such a state of wild- 
ness as to have lost even that common character of domestication, 
variety of colour and marking. Of these, two very remarkable 
ones are the dhole of India and the dingo of Australia. There is, 
besides, a half-reclaimed race amongst the Indians of North ‘America, 
