41G 
ON INSTINCT. 
from my case book, but I shall at present forbear, assuring you 
that my only motive in this communication is for the purpose 
of giving and receiving mutual instruction in difficult cases, so 
that the profession be not disgraced by such inconsistent treat¬ 
ment as the above : at least that they shall be left without excuse 
if they continue to follow it after being furnished with the means 
of amending such treatment. 
ON INSTINCT. 
Mr, W. F. Karkeek, Truro, 
Delivered before the Truro Scientific Institution, in April 18oB. 
[Concluded from page 351.] 
1 WILL now direct your attention to animals occupying links in 
the great chain, of a more complicated structure than any we have 
hitherto noticed,—the dog species. This serviceable animal has, 
by all naturalists, been assigned a distinguished link in Nature’s 
chain ; and whatever obscurity may seem to hang around his 
direct origin, yet, were we enabled satisfactorily to trace his his¬ 
tory even as a cultivated animal, we should probably be carried 
back to the earliest periods of human association. A reverend 
author fancifully observes*, that the dog was probably the 
next object, after wontlan, that shared the attention, or espoused 
the cause of mankind.” Now there cannot be a doubt that 
there are innumerable actions performed by dogs that cannot 
possibly be referred to instinct only. He would have proved 
but an indifferent subject for cultivation if his natural instinct 
had at all resembled the wolf, the fox, or the hysena, and the 
patience of the experimentalist would have been exhausted by 
innumerable failures before he could have succeeded in obtaining 
an imperfect result. There is a great deal of obscurity respect¬ 
ing the early history of the dog, and most of our distinguished 
naturalists are at variance with regard to it; nevertheless, justly 
appreciating his importance, I believe that it is a general opinion 
now that he has a claim to a pure originality of formation. It 
certainly appears at first view strange that so many varieties 
should have originated from one stock; yet, when we consider 
the powerful agencies of climate, habit, food, and domestication, 
we need not feel astonished at the number and variety of Nature’s 
works. Domestication has not only changed the external ap¬ 
pearances of animals, but their very instincts have been con¬ 
siderably modified. All the numerous varieties of cattle, of 
* Lascelles on Sporting. 
