Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/349

Rh after each of its feet had been cut off in succession. The intelligence of this breed has been but slightly developed, and it exhibits little of that attachment to man which characterises other dogs, although it may be said to show a sullen sort of fondness for its master. The Spanish Bull dog is larger and more powerful than the English breed. The Pug-dog, which in form might be described as a minia ture bull-dog, is probably a monstrous variety, rather than a degenerate form, of the bull-dog. It is, however, wholly unlike the latter in disposition, being timid and good- tempered, and is kept only as a pet, for which its dulness of intellect scarcely fits it.

undefined. 11.—Terrier.

VI. .—These include the numerous varieties of Terrier dog, and the Turnspit. The Terrier is a small but very distinct breed, and is probably one of the oldest dogs found in Great Britain. Three distinct varieties exist in this country, viz., the English Terrier, smooth and graceful in form, with sharp muzzle and erect ears, compact body, strong though slender limbs, and tail carried aloft and some what curved the colour being black, with the belly and extremities usually tan. but sometimes white; the Scotch Terrier, differing from the former in the shortness of the muzzle and limbs, and in the rough wiry character of the hair, which is usually of a dirty white colour; and the Skye Terrier, distinguished by the length and coarseness of its hair, the extreme shortness of its limbs, and the great length of its body. It is of a light brown colour. The Terrier in all its varieties is an exceedingly bold, active, and intelligent dog. It was formerly a regular accompaniment to every pack of hounds, for the purpose of unearthing the fox, and to its eagerness in taking the earth it owes its name. Terriers are now chiefly employed in the destruc tion of otters, badgers, weasels, and rats, a form of sport into which they enter with the greatest ardour, and in which they show the most remarkable dexterity, a cele brated Terrier having been known to kill 100 rats, collected in one room, in 7 minutes. The Bull-terrier is a cross between this breed and the bull-dog, and is one of the most savage and obstinate of its kind. It was the breed chiefly used in the brutal sports of badger-baiting and dog-fighting, now almost unknown in England. The Turnspit, a monstrous form of dog, is not confined to any single breed. It is figured on the ancient monuments of Egypt, and occurs among the pariah dogs of India and of Paraguay. In Britain, where they seem to be derived from hounds or terriers, there are smooth and rough turnspits, a name which they owe to their having been formerly employed in turning kitchen spits by working inside a wheel, which when once set in motion forced the dog to continue running At Caerleon in Monmouthshire, a few years ago, a dog of this kind might have been seen thus employed in the inn kitchen. The turnspit is characterized by great length of body and extreme shortness of limb, the latter being generally crooked.  DOGE, a modified form of the ordinary Italian duce, from the Latin dux, a leader or duke, employed to designate the chief magistrate in the republics of Genoa and Venice. In both cities the office underwent from time to time a variety of transformations, for details on which the larger histories of the republics must be consulted. In Venice the doge was originally chosen by universal suffrage, held office for life, and was regarded as the civil, military, and ecclesiastical chief. His duties and preroga tives were not defined with much precision, and the limits of his ability and ambition were practically the limits of his power. In 755 his independence was diminished by the appointment of two assistants or duumvirs ; but this institution was again allowed to fall into the background, and the doge acquired more and more of irresponsible authority, while at the same time the office was usually committed to a member of one or other of the more power ful families. This tendency towards a hereditary despotism was checked in 1033 by Flabenigo s law, which reinstituted the duumvirate, and declared distinctly that no doge had the right of associating any member of his family with himself in the government, or of transmitting his office on his decease. In 1172 a still more important change was introduced ; not only was the duumvirate replaced by a body of six councillors, but universal suffrage was abolished, and the election of the doge intrusted to a committee of twelve persons, elaborately selected from the members of the great council. On the death of Ziani II. in 1229, two commissions were appointed, which obtained a permanent place in the constitution, and gave emphatic testimony to the fact that the doge was merely the highest servant of the community ; the first consisted of five Correttvri della promisione ducale, whose duty was to consider if any change ought to be made in the oath of investiture administered to the doge ; the second was a board of three inqidsitori sul doge, intrusted with the curious task of examining and passing judgment on the acts of the deceased magistrate, whose estates might be mulcted in accordance &quot;with their decision. To minimize as far as possible the influence of individual families, the election of the doge was in 1268 effected by a curiously complex machinery, which remained, with some modifications, till the close of the republic ; thirty members of the great council, elected by ballot, selected nine members, who in their turn chose forty; of these forty twelve taken by lot chose twenty-five ; the twenty-five were next reduced to nine ; the nine elected forty-five ; the forty-five were reduced to eleven ; and the eleven chose the final forty-one in whose hands lay the actual election of the doge. In proportion to the development attained by the oligarchical element in the constitution, the more important functions of the office were assigned to other officials or to administrative boards, and he who had once been really the pilot of the ship became little more than an animated figure-head, properly draped and garnished. On state occasions he was still attended by all the ceremonial observances of former times : his robe was still purple, the horns of his beretta were still exalted, the sword, the tapers, and the trumpets were borne before him, his leaden seal was affixed to public documents, and the ring was still dropped yearly from his hand in symbolic espousal of Venice and the sea. But he was under the strictest surveillance, had to wait for the presence of other officials in order to open the despatches from foreign powers, was forbidden to leave the city, could not legally 