DOGo 
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threatens,, fights, and either conquers alone,, or 
alarms those who have most interest in coming to 
his assistance ; however, when he has conquered, 
he quietly reposes upon the spoil, and abstains from 
what he has deterred others from abusing; giving 
thus at once a lesson of courage, temperance, and 
fidelity. *• 
From hence we see of what importance this ani- 
mal is to us in a state of nature. Supposing, for a 
moment, that the species had not existed, how 
could man, without the assistance of the dog, 
have been able to conquer, tame, and reduce to 
servitude, every other animal ? How could he 
discover, chase, and destroy, those that were 
noxious to him ? In order to be secure, and to 
become master of all animated nature, it was ne- 
cessary for him to begin by making a friend of a 
part of them ; to attach such of them to himself, 
by kindness and caresses, as seem fittest for obe- 
dience and active pursuit. Thus the first art em- 
ployed by man, was in conciliating the favour of 
the dog ; and the fruits of this art were, the con® 
quest and peaceable possession of the earth. 
The generality of animals have greater agility, 
greater swiftness, and more formidable arms from 
nature than man ; their senses, and particularly 
that of smelling, are far more perfect : the having 
gained, therefore, a new assistant, particularly 
One whose scent is so exquisite as that of the dog, 
was the gaining a new sense, a new faculty, which 
before was wanting. The machines and instru- 
ments which we have imagined for perfecting the 
r|st of the senses, do not approach to that already 
prepared by nature, by which we are enabled to 
fed out every animal, though unseen, and thus 
dfestroy the noxious, and use the serviceable. 
The dog, thus useful in himself, taken into a 
participation of empire, exerts a degree of supe^ 
VOL, l. B © 
