THE DOS. 



niel ; so Uiat only a little encouragement and kindness are 

 required to gain its permanent attachment; indeed many of 

 them are killed to obtain a proffered reward, by taking this 

 (assuredly unworthy) advantage of their natural submissive- 

 ness. That the wolf possesses the mental qualities, and is 

 capable of the same strong attachment to man as the most 

 faithful dog, has been abundantly proved by the observations 

 of M. F. Cuvier and others ; and the unremitting persecution 

 to which it has been necessarily subjected in Europe, for so 

 many years, will sufficiently account for the savage and dis- 

 trustful character which it exhibits when unreclaimed ; though 

 even then the germs of a better disposition are traceable in the 

 permanent attachment of the male and female, and sociality of 

 the young, tiU urgent necessity, or the annual period of domi- 

 nant sexual excitement, subdues every milder propensity and 

 acquired sentiment of friendship or disinterested affection. In- 

 stances occasionally happen of the dog returning by choice to 

 a state of wildness, and assuming then, of necessity, the cha- 

 racter ascribed to the wolf. I have known this to occur in a 

 male pointer, and in a female greyhound : the latter was so 

 fine a specimen of the breed, that on being entrapped, it was 

 thought desirable to obtain a litter from her, which was accord- 

 ingly effected; but while her puppies were very young she 

 managed to escape to the woods, and never returned. Three 

 of her progeny grew to be excellent hounds ; but two others 

 proved quite irreclaimable, and, escaping from servitude like 

 their dam, were finally shot for their destructive propensities." 



Some naturalists take the jackal as the dog's progenitor, 

 and others, to account for the numerous species, suggest that 

 the breed of jackals and wolves may be mixed in some of the 

 domestic races with that of the original dogs. Dr. Hunter 

 proved beyond doubt that the wolf and the jackal wiU breed 

 with the dog ; but he had not sufficient data for coming to the 

 conclusion that all three were identical as species. In the 

 course of the doctor's experiments it was ascertained that the 

 jackal went fifty -nine days with young, whilst the wolf went 

 sixty-three days. 



It would be useless, however, to proceed further into the 

 controversy. On either side the argument is equally strong 

 that victory has not yet been declared for one or the other, and 

 after all we are compelled to take the dog as we find him ; and 

 let his antecedents be what they may, he is none the less 

 worthy our everlasting respect and admiration. "The whol© 



