HISTORY OF THE DOG.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 144359, 25 March 1914, Page 8

HISTORY OF THE DOG.

MYSTERY OF ITS ORIGIN. Where docs the dog. the most faithful friend of man, come from? “It was undoubtedly one of the earliest animals to bo domesticated,” says Professor Bateson. “Tho point is what was it before it was domesticated, and how did it become domesticated? A very probable theory to answer the latter question is that it -became domesticated by hanging about man for leavings and scraps, attaching itself to particular groups of nomads, and ultimately losing its liberty as a wild animal. But when you ask what sort of an animal it was at first, whether wolf or jackal, or some kindred creature, you find yourself faced with practically blank ignorance. As far as history goes back man has always had his dog. In ancient Egypt and Assyria they had hunting dogs, watch dogs, pot dogs, mastiffs, dachshunds, greyhounds.” The wolf or the jackal were the most probable stock from which (logs may liavo sprung. Tito fox could be ruled out of tiio question altogether. Tho bones of tiio ear were entirely different front those of tho dog, and an instance of a cross between a dog and a fox had never been recorded. Until last year there bad never boon any example of a cross between a rabbit and a hare, but recently successful experiments bad been made'to this purpose, and the results wore being awaited with keen mtcrcst. Investigators were faced with the same difficulties in regard to the oat. Unlike the dog, tho cat was not known in the ancient classical world, but existed, of course, in ancient Egypt as a sacred animal. Professor Bateson points out that the domestication of animals was the source^ of a great part of man’s power. M ith the aid of the horse he could move swiftly and carrv ont heavy work. By domesticating "wheat mail obtained the power of living in cities. Until wheat was developed'’to produce human food in largo quantities it was impossible for considerable bodies of people to occupy one comparatively small area of ground, bis differentiation and development, of types along certain utilitarian lines had given ns our control over Nature. In importance the invention of wheat was at least, comparable with the invention of iron.