58 M. F. Cuvier oii the Domestkation 



agreeable to them,' whence they can be habituated to certain 

 conditions, and even to certain exercises, but they distinguish 

 these causes but very imperfectly ; they appear to exist for them 

 only when they act, and to form but little association in their 

 memory. The animal of this tribe, to which we have done most 

 good, docs not distinguish us individually, and shows no more 

 satisfaction at our presence than at the sight of any other per- 

 son ; and this is equally true with regard to those which live in 

 society as with regard to those which lead a solitary life. 



If we pass to the tapirs, the peccaris, the daman, the zebras, 

 &c. in a word to the pachidermata and solipeda, we find ani- 

 mals living in herds, which pain may inspire with fear, and good 

 treatment render grateful, which distinguish their masters, and 

 sometimes form very strong attachments to them. 



A similar effect takes place, to a certain degree, with the ru- 

 minantia, but principally the females, for the males, without any 

 exception I believe, have a brutality which bad treatment in- 

 creases, and which good treatment does not soften. 



We learn, therefore, from the facts which have come under 

 our consideration, what influence the various means which have 

 been devised for bending animals and attaching them to our 

 service exercise upon them ; but they disclose nothing to us re- 

 garding the dispositions which are necessary in order that do- 

 mestication may result from this influence ; for we have seen 

 that several animals receive this influence like domestic animals, 

 without, however, becoming domestic. 



Were our action upon animals limited in individuals, were it 

 necessary for us, at each generation, to recommence the same la- 

 bour, in order to associate them with us, we should not have had, 

 properly speaking, domestic animals ; at least domesticity would 

 not have been what it really is, and its influence, upon our civi- 

 lization, would not have had the results which the wisest ob- 

 servers must have discovered it to possess. Fortunately this ac- 

 tion is connected with one of the most important and most ge- 

 neral phenomena of animal nature ; and the modifications which 

 we have made those animals undergo, which we have first re- 

 duced to domesticity, have not been lost with respect to those 

 which have been produced by them. 



