NATURAL HISTORY AND ORIGIN OF DOGS. 
517 
wild animals are sagacious, swift of foot, keen-scented, persevering, 
and, as the event has shewn, capable of strong and enduring 
attachment to mankind. The result of their own good qualities, 
when acted on by our kindness, is domestication. But is a wolf 
not by nature “savage or ferocious V’ Has a dog not become 
“ domestic and familiar V* And is the difference between the two 
not of man’s achievement'! Suppose Mr. Swainson was pursuing 
his avocations as a field naturalist, “ at his own good will and 
pleasure,” and was overtaken by a pack of well-trained fox hounds, 
he would fare none the worse for such encounter. But suppose 
that he chanced to be out rather late some winter evening in the 
north country, that is to say Lapland, and that he is overtaken by 
a troop of unreclaimed dogs, in other words wolves, we think he 
would find himself in a much more painful predicament, and would 
feel but slightly consoled by his own philosophical reflection, that 
he was in the presence of creatures “ which had been endowed by 
the Creator with that peculiar instinct of attaching themselves to 
man, defending his person, and guarding his property.” Being 
well read in natural history, he would more likely bring to remem- 
brance, and not without considerable trepidation, the accounts pub- 
lished many years ago in the Moniteur, how, during the last 
campaign of the French army in the territory of Vienna, not only 
were the outposts frequently molested, but the videttes actually 
carried off in consequence of these ferocious beasts attaching 
themselves to man somewhat too closely; and how, on one occasion, 
when a poor sentinel was sought to be relieved from his appointed 
post, there was nothing to be found there save a dead wolf, very 
gaunt and grim, and an exceedingly small portion of a pair of in- 
expressibles. 
We believe that neither the great French naturalist, nor any 
other naturalist, great or small, denies the providential implant- 
ing of a peculiar instinct in all animals which have been domes- 
ticated — an instinct capable, under the combined influence of fear 
and affection, of being strengthened in certain directions and 
weakened in others ; but still the subjugation itself is the actual 
work of man, and is, in truth, a great achievement. A dog de- 
sires to lick your hand, and a wolf your blood ; and there is such 
a decided difference in the nature of the two intentions, that it 
should be kept carefully in mind by all sensible men, women, and 
children. We know not whether we can even concede to Mr. 
Swainson his assertion that there is only a limited number of 
animals to whom has been given “ an innate propensity to live 
by free choice near the haunts of man, or to submit themselves 
cheerfully and willingly to his domestication.” We believe that 
innumerable tribes, excluded by Mr. Swainson’s category, are 
