54j M. F. Cuvier on the Domesticatioii 



the modifications which he experiences^ is in both cases entirely 

 external ; which shews us farther, that if the horse and the bull 

 do not refer the sound to the instrument which produces it, it 

 is less on account of the distance which separates them from the 

 instrument, than on account of the peculiar nature of the sensa- 

 tions of hearing. 



The above means are applicable to all animals, and to both 

 sexes, although they do not produce the same results in all. 

 The means of castration applies only to the male individuals ; 

 and it is absolutely necessary only for certain ruminantia, and 

 chiefly for the bull. Almost all the natural wants, when not sa- 

 tisfied, especially when their object is to repair the strength, 

 such as hunger and sleep, are accompanied with a physical 

 weakening. There is one, on the contrary, which seems to in- 

 crease in proportion as the obstacles which oppose it increase, 

 until it is satisfied ; it is love. As we are unable to exercise 

 any immediate controul over it, we mutilate the animals, which 

 experience its effects too strongly, by removing the organs from 

 which it has its principal source. 



In fact, the bull, the ram, &c. do not really submit to man 

 until after their mutilation ; for the influence of the spermatic 

 fluids extends in them, as also in all the other animals, much 

 beyond the seasons at which the desires of love are experienced. 

 At no period of their lives have these animals the docility which 

 domestication requires ; whereas the ox and the sheep have al- 

 ways been looked upon as models of patience and submission. 

 Hence it follows, that bulls and rams are useful only for propa- 

 gation ; and that in the ram it is only the female that is do- 

 mesticated. 



This operation is not necessary in horses, although those 

 which have undergone it are generally more tractable. The 

 dog, on being castrated, loses all its vigour and activity ; and 

 this effect appears to be common to all the carnivora, for the 

 domestic cat is in this respect precisely in the condition of the 

 dog. 



It is therefore by wants, over which we are able to exercise 

 some influence, which it depends upon us to direct, to develop, 

 or to destroy, that we are enabled to tame, and even entirely cap- 

 tivate animals ; and, from the small number of them of which 



