S06 M. Cuvier on the Domestication 



of nature, it would be as impossible for the wild as for the do- 

 mesticated or captive animals to do so, for the former no more 

 enjoy that imaginary state of absolute independence which is 

 called the state of nature, than the latter. All of them lie un- 

 der the unavoidable influence'of the circumstances in the midst of 

 which they are placed. These conditions may change, but the 

 nature of animals does not change. If some of them act dif- 

 ferently from others, they produce different effects, but these ef- 

 fects have always relation to the faculties of the being which 

 manifests them. A wild animal, amidst the forests of a desert 

 region, will not have any very close resemblance to what it 

 would be in the midst of a very populous country. It will be 

 still more widely different, if reduced to captivity, or converted 

 into a domestic animal, and will lose altogether its original cha- 

 racter. But whatever differences these various states may pre- 

 sent, this animal will always be the same ; it is only in its own 

 nature that the means will be met with which are calculated to 

 put it in harmony with this diversity of situations, and the facts 

 which it presents to us in the one situation, if they are numer- 

 ous and diversified, may afford us the means of deducing its fa- 

 culties as accurately as we should deduce them from facts pre- 

 sented by the others. All consists in knowing how to observe 

 and estimate the circumstances under which the facts manifest 

 themselves. 



But let us see what we should learn from animals in the 

 highest state of independence which we can imagine, that is to 

 say, in that situation which is regarded as a perfect state 

 of nature ; and that the independence may be more complete, 

 let us take one of those animals whose wants may be the most 

 easily satisfied, a ruminating animal, and place it in the midst 

 of those rich savannas of South America, from which we shall 

 even remove the animals which might, in the smallest degree, dis- 

 turb its tranquillity. So long as its wants are satisfied, it will 

 remain at rest in the couch which it has chosen for itself, im- 

 mersed in a state of sleep so much the more profound the 

 greater its security is. Plunger awakens it, it will find within the 

 compass of a few steps wherewith to satisfy itself; if it be thirst, 

 the neighbouring brook will quench it ; and there will be no 

 change in this mode of existence, until the moment when the 



