82 ESSAY ON CLASSIFICATION. 



to show that each of them has originated from one com- 

 mon stock, which, far from being the case, is flatly con- 

 tradicted by the positive knowledge we have that the 

 varieties of several of them at least are owing to the 

 entire amalgamation of different species. 1 The Egyptian 

 monuments further show that many of these so-called 

 varieties, which are supposed to be the product of time, 

 are as old as any other animals which have been known 

 to man. At all events, we have 110 tradition, no monu- 

 mental evidence of the existence of any wild animal older 

 than those which represent domesticated animals, already 

 as different among themselves as they are now. 2 It is, 

 therefore, quite possible that the different races of domes- 

 ticated animals were originally distinct species, more or 

 less mixed now, as the different races of men are. More- 

 over, neither domesticated animals, nor cultivated plants, 

 nor the races of men, are the proper subjects for an in- 

 vestigation respecting the fixity or mutability of species, 

 as all involve already the question at issue in the premises 

 which are assumed in introducing them as evidence in the 

 case. With reference to the different breeds of our do- 

 mesticated animals, which are known to be produced by 

 the management of man, as well as certain varieties of our 

 cultivated plants, they must be well distinguished from 

 permanent races, which, for aught we know, may be pri- 

 mordial ; for breeds are the result of the fostering care of 

 man : they are the product of the limited influence and 

 control the human mind has over organized beings, and 

 not the free product of mere physical agents. They show, 

 therefore, that even the least important changes winch 

 may take place during one and the same cosmic period, 

 among animals and plants, are controlled by an intellec- 



1 Our fowls, for instance. 2 NOTT and GLIDDON., Types of Mankind, p. 386. 



