il by form and instincts they fit a great variety of
purposes. Some of these pertain to industrial work, but the greater
portion are related to the sports or fancies of men. The turnspit was
bred for its short legs and small, compact body, and was serviceable in
those treadmills of the hearth which have long since passed out of use,
but which were for centuries features in our kitchens.

[Illustration: Bull-Dog]

The massive type of bull-dogs, characterized by heavy frames and an
indomitable will, appears to have been brought about by a process of
selection having for its unconscious end the development of a breed
which should render the herdsman of horned cattle something like the
assistance which the shepherd-dog gave to those who had charge of
flocks. In the more primitive state of our bulls and cows the
creatures were much wilder than at present, and were generally kept,
not in enclosed pastures, but on unfenced ranges. In these conditions
the care taken needed the help which the ancestors of our modern
bull-dog afforded. The tasks which the animal was called on to perform
were of a ruder nature than those which were allotted to the
shepherd-dog. Their business was to conquer the unruly beast. They
were taught to seize the muzzle, and by the pain they thus inflicted
they could subdue even the fiercer small bulls of the ancient type of
form. From this original use the cattle-dogs were turned to the brutal
sport of bull-baiting, a rude diversion which was indulged in by our
ancestors for centuries, and has only disappeared in our less cruel
modern days. Bred for the bull-ring, these dogs acquired the
formidable strength and ferocity under excitement which made their
name a terror and their qualities a satirical embodiment of the ruder
traits which characterized the British folk.

The training which instituted the breed of bull-dogs was evidently
much less continuous and effective than that which developed the
shepherding variety. The use for the creature in the care of herds has
passed away. In the older parts of the world cattle are kept only in
enclosures; and where, as on our frontier, they still range over
unbounded fields, they are guarded by horsemen who do not need the
assistance of dogs to control the movements of the herds. No longer
serviceable either in economies or sports, the breed of true bull-dogs
is rapidly disappearing. As we may often observe in other fields of
development, the peculiarities of th