148 On Dwarfs and Giants. 



ancient and complete. Climate, more or less care, nourishment, 

 abundant or scarce, have, besides, a great influence. The dog, 

 an old companion of man, infinitely less independent than the 

 cat, also presents many more races of different sizes. The 

 horse presents upwards of thirty races, all very different as to 

 their height, shape, and nature of their skin. The ass also 

 presents many varieties. In Arabia, Egypt, in Persia, where- 

 ever it is as well fed and taken care of as the horse, it is almost 

 its rival in size, beauty, and strength. It is well known why it 

 is small and ill-made in the greater part of Europe, and espe- 

 dally in cold countries. What a striking proof of the power of 

 man to ameliorate or degrade the animals whom he has reduced 

 to a state of servitude ! As to the sheep, though reduced from 

 the earliest ages to the most complete state of domestication, it 

 has, throughout the most numerous races, almost constantly 

 preserved the same height. Domestic birds, with the excep- 

 tion of the cock, differ little from the wild species. As to the 

 lower animals, especially fishes, the variations in size are not 

 hereditary ; they seem accidental, and to depend principally on 

 the quantity and quality of their food. The numerous re- 

 searches of M. Geoffroy on the variations of stature in domestic 

 species, have led him to the following propositions. 



The domestic species may be divided into two groups, those- 

 whose races have all the same height, or nearly so, and those 

 which consist of very large and very small races. 



In the first case, the height of the races or varieties cannot be 

 different from that of the wild type ; it may also present a dif- 

 ference of size, less or greater ; this difference, however, is always 

 very slight. 



In the second case, there are some domestic races existing 

 much larger, and others much smaller than the wild type; 

 but the medium height of the domesticated races, a height which 

 is found exact, or almost so, among many of them, hardly dif- 

 fers, or does not differ at all from the wild type. 



In the human species, the relation as to height is not as in 

 domesticated animals : individuals vary greatly, races very 

 slightly. The length of the body of the smallest dwarfs^ is to 

 that of the greatest giants as one to a fourth ; whilst the average 

 height of the smallest race, and that of the greatest, is only 



