DOGS IN LONDON 251 



half a century later on the same subject, and as 

 Gould's brilliant essay on the habits of British ants 

 — which, by the way, has never been reprinted — 

 and as Gilbert White's classic, which came later in 

 the eighteenth century. 



That the bond uniting man and dog in all 

 instances when the poor brute was obliged to fend 

 for himself in the inhospitable streets of London 

 was an exceedingly frail one was plainly seen when 

 the muzzling order of 1897 was made. An extra- 

 ordinary number of apparently ownerless dogs, 

 unmuzzled and coUarless, were found roaming 

 about the streets and taken by hundreds every 

 week to the lethal chamber. In thirty months the 

 dog population of the metropolis had decreased by 

 about one hundred thousand. The mongrels and 

 dogs of the " rascall sort " had all but vanished, 

 and this was how the improvement in the character 

 of the dog population mentioned before came about 

 immediately. But a far more important change 

 had been going on at the same time — the change 

 in the temper of our dogs ; and it may here be 

 well to remark that this change in disposition was 

 not the result of the weeding-out process I have 

 described. The better breeds are not more amiable 

 than the curs of low degree. The man who has 

 made a friend and companion of the cur will tell 

 you that he is as nice - tempered, affectionate, 

 faithful, and intelligent as the nobler kinds, the 

 dogs of " notable shape." 



Let us now go back to the muzzling time of 



