By one of those prejudices which superstition alone could produce and support, the Mahometans are deprived of this animal; having been told hogs are unclean, they do not either touch or feed on them. The Chinese, on the contrary, are very fond of their flesh; they raise numerous herds of them, and pork is their principal food; and this circumstance is said to have prevented them from receiving the law of Mahomet. The hogs of China, Siam, and India, differ a little from those of Europe; they are smaller, have shorter legs, and their flesh is much more white and delicate. Some of them have been reared in France, and they will intermix and produce with the common hogs. The negroes raise great numbers of hogs, and though there are but few among the Moors, or in the countries inhabited by the Mahometans, yet wild boars are as plenty in Africa and in Asia as in Europe. Thus these animals are not confined to any particular climates; it is only observable, that the boar, by becoming domestic, degenerates more in cold than in warm climates. A degree of temperature is sufficient to change their colour. Hogs are commonly white in the northern parts of France, as they are in Vivarais, while in Dauphiny, which is not far distant, they are all black; those of Languedoc, Provence, Spain, Italy, India, China, and America, are also of the same colour. The hog of Siam has a greater resemblance than the hog of France to the wild boar. One of the most evident marks of degeneration is furnished by the ears, which become more supple and pendant as the animal changes into a domestic state; in short the ears of the domestic hog are not so stiff, are much longer, and more pendant than those of the wild boar, which ought to be regarded as the model of the species. THE DOG. It is not the largeness of make, elegance of form, strength of body, freedom of motions, or all the exterior qualities, which constitute the noblest properties in an animated being; in mankind genius is preferred to figure, courage to strength, and sentiment to beauty; so we consider the interior qualities in an animal as the most estimable; for it is by those he differs from the automaton, rises above the vegetable species, and approaches nearer to man. It is sentiment which ennobles, regulates, and enlivens his being, which gives activity to all his organs, and birth to desire and motion. The perfection of an animal depends, then, upon sentiment alone, and the more this is extended the more are his faculties and resources augmented, and the greater are his relations with the rest of the universe. When this sentiment is delicate, exquisite, and capable of improvement, the animal then becomes worthy to associate with man; he knows how to concur with his designs, to watch for his safety, to defend and to flatter him with caresses; by a repetition of these services he conciliates the affection of his master, and from his tyrant makes him his protector.