Brehm's Life of animals - a complete natural history for popular home instruction and for the use of schools (1895) (20386616026)

Title: Brehm's Life of animals : a complete natural history for popular home instruction and for the use of schools
Identifier: brehmslifeofanim00breh (find matches)
Year: 1895 (1890s)
Authors: Brehm, Alfred Edmund, 1829-1884; PechuLoesche, Eduard, 1840-1913; Haacke, Wilhelm, 1855-1912; Schmidtlein, Richard
Subjects: Mammals; Animal behavior
Publisher: Chicago : Marquis
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library



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214 THE BEASTS OF PREY. Signs of Health The best sign of a Dog's health is a and Sickness cold, moist nose. If the nose be- in Dogs. comes dry and hot, if the eyes be- come blear and the appetite fails, one may be sure that the Dog is ill. If his condition does not rap- idly improve and the remedies prescribed by a good veterinary surgeon have no effect, there is little hope for recovery; for few Dogs live through seri- ous disease. Wounds heal quickly and well, fre- quently without any assistance; but diseases of the
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and intelligence. THE DANISH DOG. On* of the noblest of Dogs, and the handsomest of the Mastiff group, is the Danish Dog. The long legs give it great running ability, and the strong body and limbs confer upon the animal great powers ot endurance, while the eyes speak kind: (Camsfamiliaris molossus danicus.) inner organs generally baffle even experienced phy- sicians, and bunglers still more surely, and such dis- eases end fatally in a surprisingly short time. Great Useful- The usefulness of the Dog can not be nessofthe easily overestimated. Every reader D°9- knows from experience what a part the Dog plays with civilized peoples, but the animal is still more important to savage and uncivilized tribes. His flesh is eaten on the South Sea Islands, and by sundry African tribes, the Tungus, Chinese, Eskimos, North American Indians, etc. In China one often sees butchers carrying slain Dogs, and those bearing such burdens always have to defend themselves against the attacks of other Dogs, which run about and attack them in packs. Let us here mention another relation between Man and Dog, which may seem to us horrid and uncanny : since Bernardin de St. Pierre gave utterance to the idea that Dog-eating was the first step towards the eating of Man, anthro- pology has gathered many facts tending to confirm the opinion that the habit of consuming Dog's flesh is either a precursor, an accompaniment, or a remnant of the cannibal habit. Even where the Dog is occasionally or regularly used as an article of food, he still is the companion and assistant of Man. In the tropics he serves, in the capacities of sentinel and assistant in the chase, even those people of the lowest races who have no individual name for him; while the northern nations would be helpless without him, for he drags their sleds over the deserts of ice and snow, or carries the hunter's outfit on his back, like a beast of burden. In northern Asia Dog furs are manufactured into clothing, and even in Germany caps, pouches and muffs are made out of them. The bones and tendons serve to make glue; the tough, thin skin is tanned and made into shoes and gloves, while the hair is used as a stuffing in upholstery. Dog's fat is utilized to make wagon-grease, and was formerly used as a medicine in consumption. On the field of battle in former times, Dogs were also used: not as it is in our day proposed to use them, as trained warners and fleet-footed messengers easily escap- ing detection, but as real fighters by the side of the warriors. When the Spaniards were subjecting the coun- tries of the New World, the Blood- hounds played no small part as fight- ing companions, and many of these animals were esteemed for their bravery and distinguished deeds of H daring, and were honored as much as any hero among the greedy army of the conquerors. Like all partici- nts in those fights and pillages, these Dogs, or, rather, their masters for them, received their share of booty. Later on, up to very recent times, it was usual to track escaped slaves or subjugated natives, who had deserted the yoke of the Euro- peans, by Bloodhounds into the very wilderness; (and similar methods were sometimes resorted to in recap- turing fugitive Negroes during the days of slavery in the United States), The usefulness of Dogs was appre- ciated in the oldest times; but the treatment they received and the esteem accorded them varied much. Socrates was wont to swear by the Dog; Alexander the Great was so afflicted at the early death of his favorite Dog that he built a city with temples in honor of the lamented animal. Homer sings in a touching manner the praises of Odysseus' Dog, Argos. Pliny valued Dogs highly and narrated many things about them ; he stated, for instance, that the Colophonians kept great herds of Dogs on account of their constant wars, and that the Dogs were first in the attack and did not scruple to take part in any battle. When Alexander the Great went to India, the king of Albania made him a present of a Dog of immense size, which pleased Alexander very much. He pitted Bears, Wild Boars and other animals against him, but the Dog lay quite still and did not get up. Alexander believed him to be lazy and ordered him killed. When the king heard of this, he sent another Dog of, the same breed, with a message that Alexander should not send weak ani- mals against him, but Lions and Elephants. The king had had only two such Dogs, and if Alex-