of Mammiferoufi Amnials. St 



mestic animals are opj^oscd to man, after the latter has become 

 necessary to them, has seduced them and captivated their affec* 

 tions ; that is to say, the one may immediately employ force for 

 subjecting the other. It is the elephant, which, by the manner 

 in which it is rendered domestic, furnishes us with an example 

 of this truth. But, to be properly understood, I must first re- 

 late certain facts which I have already developed in my memoir 

 on Sociability. 



All the social animals, when left to themselves, form herds 

 more or less numerous, and all the individuals of the same herd 

 know each other, and are mutually attached, according to the 

 relations which circumstances and their individual qualities have 

 established among them ; and these herds live in harmony so 

 long as no incident occurs to disturb it. But this sort of attach- 

 ment exists only with reference to the individuals of the same 

 herd ; a strange individual is not at first admitted by them, 

 they almost always receive it as an enemy, and bad treatment 

 often reduces it to the necessity of flying. 



On the other hand, every isolated individual has need of the 

 society of its fellows ; it seeks them out, approaches them, fol- 

 lows them at first at a distance^, and, in order to be admitted, 

 renounces its will to the point at which the feeling of self-pre- 

 servation determines it to defend itself, or to withdraw. 



The domestic elephants, obeying the man who leads them, 

 are opposed to an isolated wild elephant, in the same manner as 

 every individual of one herd is opposed to those of another, 

 Avhilc the solitary elephant is irresistibly impelled by its instinct 

 to approach other individuals of its species, and to submit to 

 them within certain limits. 



Elephants, like all other social animals, might therefore im- 

 mediately employ force for the purpose of subjecting others; 

 and, in fact, this is what takes place in the manner in which 

 wild elephants are reduced to domesticity. 



Domesticated individuals, commonly females, ai-e conducted 

 to the neighbourhood of places in which wild individuals have 

 settled. If there be in their herd one which is forced to keep 

 separate from the rest, and even to live solitary, or because, be- 

 ing a male, there are stronger individuals in the herd, or, from 

 any other cause, is impelled by his natural propensity, he quickly 



d2 



