of MammifcrwiS Animals. 55 



we have hitherto taken advantage, we may be eillowed to think, 

 that, in practice, we have not yet exhausted this source of the 

 means of seduction, — and that others might be brought to our 

 aid, should new species to be rendered domestic, or new ser- 

 vices to be demanded of those which already are so, enforce the 

 necessity of searching them out, and induce us to make the at- 

 tempt. Although, however, the number is thus limited, it will 

 easily be conceived, that, in applying them to animals of very 

 different natures, the results obtained must vary in a high de- 

 gree. In fact, scarcely any comparison can be instituted be- 

 tween the dog and the buffalo in this respect. While the one is 

 a pattern of attachment, submission, gratitude, fidelity, and de- 

 votedness, — the other is destitute of every benevolent and affec- 

 tionate feeling, and of all docility.* Between these two extremes, 

 come the elephant, the hog, the horse, the ass, the dromedary, 

 the camel, the lama, the rein-deer, the goat, the ram, and the 

 bull, which could all be characterised by the qualities which 

 have been developed in them by the influences to which we have 

 subjected them ; but this subject would lead me too far beyond 

 the limits which I ought to prescribe to myself in a mere me- 

 moir. 



Hitherto I have only coi^idered the general effects which tl:e 

 various means, described above produce upon domesticated ani- 

 mals. It will not be useless to cast a glance over those which 

 they produce in wild animals ; for the comparison that will re- 

 sult, will perhaps assist us in eliciting the first elements of do- 

 mestication. 



The monkeys, that is to say, the quadrumana of the old world, 

 which, to the highest degree of intellect in animals, unite the 

 organization most favourable to the development of all the fa- 

 culties — which have the propensity to unite together, and form 

 large herds, — appear to possess the conditions most favourable 

 for receiving the influence of our means of taming, — and yet no 

 adult male of this numerous tribe has ever submitted to man, 

 whatever good treatment it may have received. I intend con- 

 fining myself to the guerons, macaci, and cynocephali ; for the 

 orangs, gibbons, and semnopitheci, are animals as yet too little 

 known to us to have ever been subjected to experiment. With 

 regard to the former, their sensations are so vivid, their infer- 



