NATURAL HISTORY AND ORIGIN OF DOGS. 
519 
Mr. Swainson states his surprise (in loc. tit.) that any one 
should countenance the assertion of those sceptical writers who 
“ term this wonderful instinct the work of many In this we 
conceive lies his misconception of the whole matter. He seems 
to think that the writers whom he criticises assert that man has 
formed the peculiar instincts of certain species ; whereas these 
writers, whether wright or wrong, merely maintain that the human 
race has taken advantage of such instincts, and by control and 
cultivation has turned them to its own advantage. What is the 
natural portion of instinct in the procedure of the pointer dog ! 
Surely this, that when it has scented the game it stands still lor 
a time warily, and then advances with greater caution, that it 
may eventually spring upon and secure it for itself What is 
the acquired or artificial portion 1 That steady, sedate, and 
“ self-denying ordinance,” which directs it to indicate the exist- 
ence and position of the game, or, if encouraged, cautiously to 
lead towards it, that it may be slaughtered by and for its master. 
The former delay is a mere piece of instinctive prudence, that 
the quadruped may spring at last upon its prey with more un- 
erring aim, — the latter is a conventional indication to the biped 
who carries the gun, that it is now his business to conclude the 
work. This conversion, under man’s guidance, of a momentary 
pause to a full stop, has been typographically compared to the 
changing of a semicolon to a point. 
We believe it was Buffon who first broached the notion that 
the shepherd’s dog is that which approaches nearest to the pri- 
mitive race, since in all countries inhabited by savages, or men 
half-civilized, the dogs resemble this breed more than any other. 
“If we also consider,” he observes, “that this dog, notwithstand- 
ing his ugliness, and his wild and melancholy look, is still superior 
in instinct to all others, — that he has a decided character in which 
education has no share, — that he is the only kind born as it were 
already trained — that, guided by natural powers alone, he applies 
himself to the care of our flocks, which he executes with singular 
the latter language, means simply soil , or “ mother earth,” and not the god 
of day. The passage, of course, signifies that earth and atmosphere furnish 
food for vegetation by means of water , which is composed of oxygen and hy- 
drogen , — of air , which contains oxygen and azote, — and of carbonic acid , 
which is a combination of oxygen and carbon. We observe, that in a con- 
cluding Note (p. 16), Mr. Swainson states, “as it might be thought objec- 
tionable, in a popular work of this nature, to quote foreign authors in their 
own language, we have, upon this and other occasions, cited Mr. Griffith’s 
translation of the Rbgne Animal , rather than the original.” Mr. S. might 
surely, with no loss of popularity, have given us a correct translation of his 
own, without quoting either a foreign language or an unintelligible version by 
another person ; and this would have been a proper and praiseworthy way of 
using books without abusing them. 
