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Show 314- DISSERT. . IV. !--v"--J .H I S T .0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. they _have imported any horfes; and on the contrary~ we are certai11 that Americah ·horfes have frequently been fcnt to Spam as prcfcnts tn the grandees of the court, and fometi.mes to the catholic king himfclf. I ' D· o G s. I AM 0 N G the abfurd opinions entertained. by Mr. de Pc1w, which .arc not a few, his ideas refpeCl:ing dogs are not the leafl: extraordinary : " Dogs," he fays, (1J) " when tranfported frqm our countries, imme~: diatc1yrlofc their vo~ce, and ceafe to bark in the g ·eater part of the " .regions of the t1cw con tin en t." The Americans meet a nll~ber of ..things to ·make them fmilc in the work of Mr. de Paw, bHt m reading this paiTage it may provoke their loud laughter. Although we /holl'ld grant to Mr. ~e ~aw that dogs have degenerated in many places, )1othiQg cQuld 'f)rqm th~n~~ 9e in.feFred 3jgaiqft J}:le> new, 'Yh.ich .could not be aq uallyl well ;3Jppli<t5h 'tp, tpe, old world : fol' ac~ording as Mr de Buffon aBirrn$, dolfl: ..whi"n tran·liportad . from the temper:ttc -' I Qv 1 "'f ""' " J jnto the cold climes of the old1 continent lofe their voice, and' when ' .tranfported into . extremely hot clil,l'les, they lofe not only their voi~e, but alfo their hair,J '. 1(1 isl'!ffe§tion ~ the fPttnt de Buffon ip fupportcd by the expet·iment tnad,reH 9f11.~9f~P,t;111 , 4Rgs,. t1·an'fp.orf ~ irn.to A,fia and Africa, whofe degeneracy, J)e · ~ ys, <is ro quick in, Fpinw and other very hot countries, tqat 1aft,tfr 9-rc:,~ or four year~ they remain entirely mute and bald-. J:\d:r.1q.e1 f,:p.y1 , doe~ , not q~re tp fay fo much of the dogs tranfported t9Jcf\f11tlriql;, b~ e.ve~ . t~at whic;~ l~F ::1ffirms is moft falfe. In what cot.tntries, ,qfr.A'!lletjff'l ,have1 dR~s- '~~, !~ei,r ~?.ice ? On the faith of what an~hpr has ~e, ,(\'at;ed to publj~ r1u.~~ a .f~~le l · The greater part of the countries of A;merica .to ~ h~ch European dogs nave. bsen tranfported are ft1bjeCl:ed tq the ' kip~ ~f .. Spa~n, a~~d in none, of them has fuch an accident happ~ped to ,dogs. Ne1ther a~~~g the Eura~ean aiuqql1S :yvho)1- YCf obfeyyed ~~1~ p.9ted. the p~cul! antles of Amenca, nor among the many Amencans~ lately arnve& from the countries of SpanHh America, 'have we found one to con:fi~m this anecdote fr~m Mr. de Paw. That, howev.er> ,whi~h we know'both 'II( II.'. lA.l \ J , (n) Rt'cherch. Philofoph. plUt i. 2 J' ( ,J • 4 ir .r· . .lo /rcnp ~-I I S T 0 R Y 0 f M E. X I C 0. f(om fev~ral writers of ,Ameriq, apd 1panz perf0ns acq.4'liQt~ V'{ith 1 thofe countries, is, that ~ogs pc.ver ru!f macl either in Per~, ~ito, . o1· i11 other countries of tho new worlcl. Mr. Q(: Paw perhaps read, th~t in fome countr'es of A,lllerica there, w~re dog~ w)lich did not bark, and this was cno,ugh for him ~o publifh that E~ropea,n 4o.!;s when tranfporteJ to America fg9n lofi t~ :cir vpi~e. In like Q'lqllll~f j~ JUight be faid, . that fig~ wh~ , tr~n(p.Jantcq fi·o1' Europe t? A~et;i~~- b~come immediately thorny, b!! 'a.ufe the nofhtli 9r bunq has thorns, qnd from fome rcfe11 bl;mce to the fig wa~ called by the Spaniard.s Indian 6g, i,n ) the f'\O)c W'iJ.Y l'\S they called the techicbi, ~he little dog of Mexico, be-caufe it refembled a little dog; but neith~r is .this quaclruped . a real dog, nor that fruit a true fig. It is eafy to be betrayed into fuch errors when the ideas of men wander ·in [peculation, and the paffions help thei1· going afi:ray. l'he count de Buffon, on the ~ontrary, affirms (o) that European dogs have profpered in the hot as well as the cold countries of the new world: in which affirmation he grants certainly a great fu periority. to ·the clime of America over that of the old world. C A. T s. 0 U R philofophers fay nothing in particular concerning the degeneracy of cats in America: but they ought to be comp1·ehended in their univerfal aifertian. Neverthelefs count de Buffon, who in the paifage above quoted does not admit any exception in that which he fays of the degeneracy of animat~ . in ,America, · treating afterwards of cats in ·par~icular, after boa{l:ing tpofe of Spain as the beft of all, he affirms that thefe Spanilh cats tranfported to America have preferved their fine colours, and have not in the le~fi: degenerated ( p). Thef~ arc the quadrupeds (q) tranfported from the o]d to the new coptinent, all Qf which, except camels, have multiplied exceffivc- .. (o) Hi!'coirc Nat. tom. x. ( p) I d. tom. xi. · (q) The count de Buffon :Hlds to the above mentioned quadruped tr:mfporrcd to Amer i a the Guinea pig and the rabbet; but affirms that thofe two fpecics have pwfpcr:cd. With ref]>ct~ to mice it would certainly be a great ~liftrcfs to America if they otdd nr>t lire in that climate, s s 2 ly, • ' niSSERT. . ~. ~ |