562 
NATURAL HISTORY AND ORIGIN OF DOGS. 
Deeb ; and Colonel Hamilton Smith suspects that the greyhound 
of the desert was originally derived from a species very nearly 
allied, if not actually belonging, to the same section. 
“ If,” says the last named author, “ domestic dogs were merely 
wolves modified by the influence of man’s wants, surely the curs of 
Mohammedan states, refused domestic care, left to roam after their 
own free will, and only tolerated in Asiatic cities in the capacity of 
scavengers, would long since have resumed some of the characters 
of the wolf; there has unquestionably been sufficient time for that 
purpose, since we find allusion made to these animals in the laws 
of Moses; they were then already considered unclean, for all cattle 
worried, injured, or not killed as the law prescribed, were ordered 
to be flung to them*.” 
It is well known that the streets and suburbs of eastern towns 
are still greatly infested by these animals, to which reference was 
no doubt made by King David, when he prays to be delivered 
from his enemies, “ They return at evening ; they make a noise 
like a dog, and go round about the city.” Ps. liv, 6. Their 
savage nature is further illustrated by the fate of Jezebel ; and a 
race of wild dogs is reported to have particularly infested the banks 
of the Kishon, and the district of Jezreelt. 
Even in recent times, a very dangerous canine animal is said to 
follow the caravans from Bassora to Aleppo. It is called Sheeb 
by the Arabs, and all who are bitten by it are believed to die of 
the wound. Dr. Russell endeavours to explain this fatal result by 
supposing the creature to be in a state of madness, that is, labour- 
ing under hydrophobia; but he forgets that these wild animals are 
gregarious, several travelling together, which mad dogs never do. 
It has, indeed, been questioned whether hydrophobia exists at all 
in Western Asia. Colonel Hamilton Smith states it to be un- 
known there among the cur dogs of the citiesj. 
It is, however, by no means unlikely that the larger, fiercer, and 
more powerful dogs of the East may have had some cross of the 
true wolf, because, although the latter animal is not now found in 
Judea, it is well known in Asia Minor, and the gorges of Cilicia. 
* Naturalist’s Library, Mammalia, vol. ix, p. 97. 
t Encyc. of Biblical Literature, I, 570. 
I Naturalist’s Library, Mammalia, voL ix, p. 175. Although other species, 
when bitten, may be infected by this rabies, it seems to originate solely in 
animals of the dog kind, or those nearly allied. In India, hyaenas, wolves, 
jackals, and foxes are subject to it, as well as domesticated dogs. When it 
attacks wild animals, it seems to deprive them of all fear of man. The 
European wolf, in a state of madness, instead of avoiding rather seeks out the 
human race as his victims ; and in France even foxes, under that strange and 
mysterious influence, have run into and been killed in the midst of crowds 
assembled in a market-place. 
