into effect their several instincts, seem to
themselves to act from similar internal impulses of will and intention,
as human beings do.

We need not enter into the vast number of varieties which the most
domestic of all domesticated animals, the dog, exhibits; we shall only
remark, that, in all their varieties, Dr Prichard says,--

"Restored to a state of comparative wildness, which approaches to
their unreclaimed and primitive condition, the tribes of dogs every
where make a corresponding approximation to the type which may be
supposed to have belonged to the species in its original state."

But this passage is enigmatical, as the original _type_ seems to be
involved in dense obscurity. Buffon considered the shepherd dog to be
the least modified by domestication--very erroneously, according to Dr
Prichard; it is still a _vexata questio_, whether the original
progenitor of the dog be a wolf, a jackal, a fox, or an unknown animal
differing from all these.

"The sheep is one of the most anciently domesticated animals, and
it is one in which great varieties display themselves. It has been
long believed, and this appears to have been the opinion of Baron
Cuvier, that all the breeds of tamed sheep are descended either
from the argali of Siberia, or from the moufloun or musmon of
Barbary. This is at present doubted by most naturalists. There
seems, however, to be no reason for believing that the domestic
breeds belong to more than one species, though they differ much in
different countries. In Europe, the breeds of sheep vary much in
stature, in the texture of their wool, the number and shape of
their horns, which are in some large, in some small, in others
wanting to the female, or altogether absent from the breed. The
most important varieties in Europe are the Spanish breeds, some
with fine, others with crisp wool, in which the rams have long
spiral horns; the English breeds, which differ greatly in size and
in the quality of the wool; and, in the southern parts of Russia,
the long-tailed breed. The breeds of sheep in India and in Africa
are remarkable for the length of their legs, a very convex
forehead, and pendant ears; these also have long tails. Their
covering is not wool, but a smooth hair. In the northern parts of
Europe and Asia the sheep have short tails. The breeds spread
through P