276 NATURAL HISTORY READER. 



transmitted to the next in the form of inherited tendencies, 

 until we have breeds of dogs differing from each other in 

 appearance, temper, and habits to such an extent as to 

 make it seem impossible that they could have had a com- 

 mon origin. 



2. The intelligence displayed by dogs in the accom- 

 plishment of their purposes, and often in adapting means 

 to ends in a new emergency, appears to differ from human 

 reason in degree rather than in kind. The intellectual 

 manifestations, however, are not very wide in their scope, 

 and are mostly confined to the field of activity which dis- 

 tinguishes the breed. When the idea derived from inher- 

 itance takes full possession of them, for the time being it 

 seems that nothing can divert them from the movements 

 which this idea prompts. A hunting-dog on the track of 

 game can not be turned aside, and, though usually quickly 

 obedient to his master's voice, he now seems entirely ob- 

 livious to it, overmastered by the mighty instinct derived 

 from his long line of ancestry. The shepherd's dog will 

 not desert his charge even to get food to save him from 

 starvation. 



3. The dog's peculiar intellectual development, how- 

 ever, appears to be entirely of human origin. The primal 

 instinct which led him to seek his food by hunting has been 

 so modified by human training as to almost lose its origi- 

 nal character, and in its place we find the diversified char- 

 acteristics which now mark the species. Dogs left to 

 themselves could not have developed in these various ways, 

 human companionship and direction being necessary factors 

 in the result. 



4. In other ways the dog has shown a great superiority 

 over the whole brute creation, and these are in affection 

 for his human associates and in faithfulness to their inter- 

 ests. While dogs show great fondness for each other, the 

 depth of their emotion is shown only toward their masters 



