In the matter of internal anatomy, the Dog family differ from all other Carnivores in possessing a large “blind gut,” or cæcum. The intestines, which are proportionally longer than a Cat’s, are, as usual, divided into large and small, and, at the place where the large and small intestines join one another, there goes off a folded sac, communicating with the intestine at one end, but quite closed at the other, forming, in fact, a small cul-de-sac. The use of this curious appendage is not properly understood, nor why it should be so well developed in the Dog family, while it is very small indeed in Cats, and wholly absent in Bears.
No member of this family attains the size reached by some of the Felidæ, such as the Lion and Tiger, or some of the Ursidæ, such as the Grizzly or Polar Bear; the Mastiff is the largest of the tribe, no wild species of which is larger than an ordinary Shepherd’s Dog.
THE DOMESTIC DOG.[92]
We have now to consider an animal which has more interest for us than any member of the animal kingdom, with the single exception of Homo sapiens; indeed, many people, if asked to name the creature which feels for them the most disinterested friendship, the most devoted love, and which shows the most constant and untiring kindness and attention, would without hesitation name the humble Carnivore rather than the arrogant and self-asserting Primate. It was not his servants who recognised Ulysses on his return from his long voyage; it was not even his faithful Penelope; it was the old Dog Argus, who
“—— —— soon as he perceived
Long-lost Ulysses nigh, down fell his ears
Clapp’d close, and with his tail glad sign he gave
Of gratulation, impotent to rise
And to approach his master as of old.”
Where shall we find an instance of human devotion, unaltered and unalterable by death, greater than that recorded by our great Lake poet of the Dog whose ill-fated master was killed in passing Helvellyn?—