Beeton's book of poultry and domestic animals - Thurman Lodge ...

THE DOG.
ispecies is become our property ; each individual is entirely de-
Yoted to his master, adopts his manner, distinguishes and defends
his property, and remains attached to him even unto
death ;
and all this springs not from mere necessity nor from
constraint, but simply from true friendship. The swiftness,
the strength, and the highly-developed power of smelling of the
dog, have made him a powerful ally of man against the other
animals, and were perhaps necessary to the establishment of
society. It is the only animal that has followed man all over
the earth." And all this since that remote period when the
Israelites were captives in Egypt, and when it was recorded
in sacred Scripture, " But against Israel shall not a dog raise
his tongue."
That this animal has ever been held in the highest esteem in
all countries except the Bast, requires but little research to
pK)ve. The ancient fire-worshippers of Persia recognized the
dog as the " good principle," by which they were enabled to
resist the assaults of the evil powers. They symbolized
Ormord, their god, in the form of a dog ; for, to a nomad race,
there is no animal so dear, no type of a divine watchfulness so
true, as the protector of the herd. A thousand lashes was the
punishment for maiming any able dog, and it was a capital
offence to kill one. The sight of a dog by dying men was said
to comfort them with bodings of the conquest of all evil, and
of their immortal peace. In later times, the Persians held it
to be a good token for the dead, if a dog approached the corpse
and ate from between the lips a bit of bread that had been
placed there; but, if no dog would approach the body, that
was held to be a sign of evil for the soul.
Among the old Franks, Suabians, and Saxons, a dog was
held in small esteem ; nevertheless, and, indeed, for that cause,
he was not seldom set over the highest nobles of the land. If
a great dignitary had, by broken faith', disturbed the peace of
the realm, a dog was put upon his shoulder by the Emperor.
To carry a dog for a certain distance was, in the time of Otto
the Eirst, and after it, one of the severest punishments inflicted
on unruly prisoners. Nobles of lower rank carried, instead of
the dog, a chain ; peasants, a plough wheel. The Peruvians both
worshipped the dog and ate it at their most solemn sacrifices.
Accor(ing to Kaempfer, the Japanese regard the dog with religious
awe. Among ancient as well as modern Britons, the
dog was an honoured companion. Cn, in the ancient British
language, signified a dog, and among the ancient mighty Bri-