Page:Dogs of China & Japan - Collier - 1921.djvu/18

 The author gratefully acknowledges his indebtedness to Berthold Laufer, for the use of his authoritative and invaluable work on "Chinese Pottery of the Han Dynasty," published by the East Asiatic Committee of the American Museum of Natural History. This work has been much used and quoted. "Toy Dogs and their Ancestors," by the Hon. Mrs. Neville Lytton, has also been freely consulted. Acknowledgments are also due to the numerous authors of the works cited in the notes.

It is possible that the records of the Chinese Imperial Palace will, if they become available, throw further light upon the origin and history of the Pekingese type of dog. They may also explain how much of its quality the British spaniel breed owes to Chinese ancestors. That the English pug is descended from the Chinese dog may be considered as settled. It appears not unlikely that the King Charles spaniel is descended from a short-headed Chinese race. More light is required on the history of the Tibetan and Japanese races, but the outline of their development is now clear.

It is hoped that the information gained may prove, by indicating something of the age of the Pekingese race and the reasons for its special characteristics, to be of some assistance to the experiments which have, for some years, been carried out at University College, London, with Pekingese dogs, in connexion with Mendelism. There appears to be no doubt that a distinct breed of white non-albino Pekingese, though now extinct, has existed in the Imperial Palace.

The Chinese, Tibetan, Japanese, or Mongol scholar may find small points for debate in some of the translations. It has not been possible to secure the checking of them all by high authorities, but the sense certainly represents a close approximation to the original meaning. Special care has been taken to secure good authority for all quotations and viii