of Mmmniferous Anirtuds, 57 



would, moreover, have the disadvantage of a very limited intel- 

 lect, and of an unfavourable organization of limbs. 



The carnivora, such as the lions, panthers, martins, civets, 

 wolves, bears, &c. all of them species which live a solitary life, 

 are very accessible to benefits, and little susceptible of fear. In 

 a state of liberty, they retire from danger ; in captivity, violence 

 irritates them, and seems especially to carry confusion into their 

 intellect; anger and fury then possess them. But let their 

 wants be satisfied when they feel them keenly ; let them expe- 

 rience goodness only on the part of their masters ; let no sound 

 of the voice, no motion, give indication of a menacing character ; 

 and these terrible animals will soon be seen approaching their 

 benefactors with confidence, manifesting the satisfaction which 

 they experience on seeing them, and affording the most unequi- 

 vocal demonstrations of their affection. A hundred times has the 

 apparent mildness of a monkey been followed by treachery ; but 

 never have the outward signs of a carnivorous animal proved 

 deceitful. If it is disposed to hurt, every thing in its gestures 

 and look will announce it, and the same will be the case when it 

 is animated by a benevolent feeling. 



Lions, panthers, and tigers have often been seen yoked to 

 carriages, and obeying their, drivers with much docility. Wolves, 

 trained for hunting, have been seen faithfully to follow the pack 

 to which they belonged, and the exercises which bears are made 

 to perform are well known. But although we have been able 

 to habituate these animals to obedience, although we may have 

 succeeded in training them to certain exercises, we have not gone 

 so far as truly to associate them with us ; and yet what services 

 might not man derive from the lion or bear, were he able to em- 

 ploy them as he has succeeded in employing the dog. 



The seals, which are all social animals, and possessed of un- 

 common degree of intellect, are, perhaps, of all the carnivora 

 those which would undergo the greatest modifications from our 

 good treatment, and which would perform, with most facility, 

 what we might require of them. 



The glires, that is to say the beavers, marmots, squirrels, 

 hares, &c. seem only to be endowed with the faculty of feeling, 

 so little activity has their intellect. They retire from whatever 

 causes them pain, and, on the other hand, approach whatever is 



