50 M. F. Cuvier on the Domestication r'^^ 



He gave himself up to dissipation, and neglected his duties ; he 

 even went so far, in his moments of drunkenness, as to strike 

 his elephant. The latter, from being habitually cheerful, be- 

 came melancholy and taciturn, in so much as to be thought un- 

 well. It still however obeyed, but no longer with that brisk- 

 ness which shewed that all its exercises were regarded by it as 

 amusements ; signs of impatience were even sometimes manifest- 

 ed, but they were immediately repressed. It was obvious that 

 very different feelings were combating within, but the situation 

 so unfavourable to obedience to which this violent state reduced 

 it, did not the less contribute to excite the discontent of its 

 keeper. It was in vain that the most positive orders were given 

 to this young man never to strike his elephant, and that he was 

 made to see that good treatment alone could restore the original 

 docility of the animal. Mortified at having lost his authority 

 over the elephant, and especially at not going through his 

 exercises with the same success as formerly, his irritation in- 

 creased, and one day being more unreasonable than usual, 

 he struck his animal with so much brutality, that the latter, 

 goaded to the utmost, uttered sucSh a cry of rage, that its terri- 

 fied master, who had never before heard it emit such a terrible 

 roar, ran off precipitately ; and it was well for him, for hence- 

 forth the elephant would not so much as suffer him to come 

 near it ; at the mere sight of him it became furious, and all the 

 means which were afterwards employed in order to inspire it with 

 better feelings, were ineffectual. Hatred supplied the place of 

 love ; indocility succeeded to obedience ; and, as long as this 

 animal lived, these two feelings predominated in it. 



Benefits on our part are therefore indispensable to bring ani- 

 mals to obedience. As we are not of their species, they do not 

 naturally experience affection for us, and we can only act at first 

 upon them by restraint ; but it would not be so on the part of 

 individuals towards which these animals are attracted by their 

 instinct, which are of the same species, to which a powerful tie 

 tends to unite them, and for which the constraint exercised by 

 their kind is a natural state, a possible condition of their exist- 

 ence. 



From the moment when they first come together, these ani- 

 mals are opposed to each other in the same manner as the do- 



