aordinary
passage from darkness to light, effected? Did we seek out the poodle,
the collie, or the mastiff from among the wolves and the jackals, or did
he come spontaneously to us? We cannot tell. So far as our human annals
stretch, he is at our side, as at present; but what are human annals in
comparison with the times of which we have no witness? The fact remains
that he is there in our houses, as ancient, as rightly placed, as
perfectly adapted to our habits as though he had appeared on this
earth, such as he now is, at the same time as ourselves. We have not to
gain his confidence or his friendship: he is born our friend; while his
eyes are still closed, already he believes in us: even before his birth,
he has given himself to man. But the word "friend" does not exactly
depict his affectionate worship. He loves us and reveres us as though we
had drawn him out of nothing. He is, before all, our creature full of
gratitude and more devoted than the apple of our eye. He is our intimate
and impassioned slave, whom nothing discourages, whom nothing repels,
whose ardent trust and love nothing can impair. He has solved, in an
admirable and touching manner, the terrifying problem which human wisdom
would have to solve if a divine race came to occupy our globe. He has
loyally, religiously, irrevocably recognized man's superiority and has
surrendered himself to him body and soul, without after-thought,
without any intention to go back, reserving of his independence, his
instinct and his character only the small part indispensable to the
continuation of the life prescribed by nature. With an unquestioning
certainty, an unconstraint and a simplicity that surprise us a little,
deeming us better and more powerful than all that exists, he betrays,
for our benefit, the whole of the animal kingdom to which he belongs
and, without scruple, denies his race, his kin, his mother and his
young.

[Illustration]

But he loves us not only in his consciousness and his intelligence: the
very instinct of his race, the entire unconsciousness of his species, it
appears, think only of us, dream only of being useful to us. To serve us
better, to adapt himself better to our different needs, he has adopted
every shape and been able infinitely to vary the faculties, the
aptitudes which he places at our disposal. Is he to aid us in the
pursuit of game in the plains? His legs lengthen inordinately, his
muzzle tapers, his lungs widen, he becomes swift