of Mammiferous Animals. - 315 



of the globe, that is to say, the consequence of power by means 

 of which this animal struggles with and sustains itself against 

 those which are affixed to it, from the moment that we know 

 the general faculties of its species and its dispositions, we can 

 determine, even in advance, its individual actions in all the si- 

 tuations in which it may be placed ; and from this time it will 

 no longer be required, in order to determine the mode of exist- 

 ence of a particular species in a given country, to discover the 

 individuals of that species, to follow them through all the de- 

 tails of their existence, to hunt them for the purpose of getting 

 hold of them ; it will be sufficient to appreciate correctly the 

 circumstances in which they are placed, which is a much easier 

 matter, and much less subject to error. It is from chance that 

 all sciences proceed ; and zoology, properly so called, will have 

 no true foundation until it proceeds like them. 



Thus, on whatever side we view the question we constantly 

 arrive at this truth, — that the methodical examination of animals 

 in captivity, is one of the surest means which have been given 

 us of studying them, and of knowing them as they should be 

 known by the naturalist. 



And now that it has been estabhshed as a firm principle that 

 animals never conduct themselves otherwise than in conformity 

 with their situation and faculties, that is to say, with the powers 

 which act within them, and those which act without them, I 

 may enter upon my subject, and consider the source and effiscts 

 of domestication, without any fear that the facts which I may 

 have to relate, or the inferences which I shall draw from them, 

 will be rejected under the pretext of their not being natural. 



The absolute submission which we require of animals, and 

 the sort of tyranny with which we govern them, have led to the 

 idea that they obey us as absolute slaves, that the superiority 

 which we have over them is sufficient to constrain them to renounce 

 their natural love of independence, to bend them to our plea- 

 sure, to satisfy such of our wants as their organisation, their 

 intellect, or their instinct permit us to employ them for. We 

 conceive, however, that if the dog has become so good a hunter 

 through our care, it is because he was so naturally, and that we 

 have only aided the development of one of his original quali- 

 ties ; and we find that it is much the same with all the various 



