The Dog | Page 4

human being; and it is said of the noble
quadruped whose remains constitute one of the most interesting
specimens in the museum of Berne, that forty persons were rescued by
him from impending destruction.
When this friend and servant of man dies, he does not or may not cease
to be useful; for in many countries, and to a far greater extent than is
generally imagined, his skin is useful for gloves, or leggings, or mats,
or hammercloths; and, while even the Romans occasionally fattened
him for the table, and esteemed his flesh a dainty, many thousands of
people in Asia, Africa, and America, now breed him expressly for food.
If the publication of the present work should throw some additional
light on the good qualities of this noble animal; if it should enable us to
derive more advantage from the services that he can render--to train
him more expeditiously and fully for the discharge of those services--to
protect him from the abuses to which he is exposed, and to mitigate or
remove some of the diseases which his connection with man has
entailed upon him; if any of these purposes be accomplished, we shall
derive considerable "useful knowledge" as well as pleasure from the
perusal of the present volume.
Some controversy has arisen with regard to the origin of the dog.
Professor Thomas Bell, to whom we are indebted for a truly valuable
history of the British quadrupeds, traces him to the wolf. He says, and it
is perfectly true, that the osteology of the wolf does not differ
materially from that of the dog more than that of the different kinds of
dogs differs; that the cranium is similar, and they agree in nearly all the
other essential points; that the dog and wolf will readily breed with
each other, and that their progeny, thus obtained, will again mingle
with the dog. [The relative length of the intestines is a strong distinctive

mark both as to the habits and species of animals; those of a purely
carnivorous nature are much shorter than others who resort entirely to
an herbaceous diet, or combine the two modes of sustenance according
to circumstances. The dog and wolf have the intestines of the same
length. (See Sir Everard Home on Comparative Anatomy.)--L.] There
is one circumstance, however, which seems to mark a decided
difference between the two animals; the eye of the dog of every country
and species has a circular pupil, but the position or form of the pupil is
oblique in the wolf. Professor Bell gives an ingenious but not
admissible reason for this. He attributes the forward direction of the
eyes in the dog to the constant habit, "for many successive generations,
of looking towards their master, and obeying his voice:" but no habit of
this kind could by possibility produce any such effect. It should also be
remembered that, in every part of the globe in which the wolf is found
this form of the pupil, and a peculiar setting on of the curve of the tail,
and a singularity in the voice, cannot fail of being observed; to which
may be added, that the dog exists in every latitude and in every climate,
while the habitation of the wolf is confined to certain parts of the globe.
There is also a marked difference in the temper and habits of the two.
The dog is, generally speaking, easily manageable, but nothing will, in
the majority of cases, render the wolf moderately tractable. There are,
however, exceptions to this. The author remembers a bitch wolf at the
Zoological Gardens that would always come to the front bars of her den
to be caressed as soon as any one that she knew approached. She had
puppies while there, and she brought her little ones in her mouth to be
noticed by the spectators; so eager, indeed, was she that they should
share with her in the notice of her friends, that she killed them all in
succession against the bars of her den as she brought them forcibly
forward to be fondled.
M.F. Cuvier gives an account of a young wolf who followed his master
everywhere, and showed a degree of affection and submission scarcely
inferior to the domesticated dog. His master being unavoidably absent,
he was sent to the menagerie, where he pined for his loss, and would
scarcely take any food for a considerable time. At length, however, he
attached himself to his keepers, and appeared to have forgotten his

former associate. At the expiration of eighteen months his master
returned, and, the moment his voice was heard, the wolf recognised
him, and lavished on his old friend the most affectionate caresses. A
second separation followed, which lasted three years, and again the
long-remembered voice was recognised, and replied to