THE DARWINIAN THEORY OF INSTINCT. 595 



nature of the case, it is not to be expected that we should obtain a 

 great variety of instances among wild animals of new instincts ac- 

 quired under human observation, seeing that the conditions of their 

 life, as a rule, remain pretty uniform for any periods over which human 

 observation can extend. But from a time before the beginning of 

 history, mankind, in the practice of domesticating animals, has been 

 making what we may now deem a gigantic experiment upon the topic 

 before us. 



The influences of domestication upon the psychology of animals 

 may be broadly considered as both negative and positive — negative 

 in the obliteration of natural instincts ; positive in the creation of 

 artificial instincts. I shall consider these two branches separately, 

 and here I may again revert to the obliteration of natural wildness. 

 We all know that the horse is an easily breakable animal, but his 

 nearest allies in a state of nature, the zebra and the quagga, are the 

 most obstinately unbreakable of animals. Similar remarks apply to 

 the natural wildness of all wild species of kine, as contrasted with 

 the innate taraeness of our domesticated breeds. Consider again the 

 case of the cat. The domesticated animal is sufficiently tame, even 

 from kittenhood ; whereas its nearest cousin in a state of nature, the 

 wild-cat, is perhaps of all animals the most untamable. But, of 

 course, it is in the case of the dog that we meet with the strongest 

 evidence on this point. The most general and characteristic features 

 in the psychology of all the domesticated varieties are faithfulness, 

 docility, and sense of dependence upon a master ; whereas the most 

 usual and characteristic features in the psychology of all the wild 

 species are fierceness, treachery, and self-reliance. But, not further 

 to pursue the negative side of this subject, let us now turn to the 

 positive, or to the power which man has shown himself to possess of 

 implanting new instincts in the mental constitution of animals. For 

 the sake of brevity I shall here confine myself to the most conspicuous 

 instance, which is of course furnished by the dog, seeing that the dog 

 has always been selected and trained with more or less express refer- 

 ence to his mental qualities. And here I may observe that, in the 

 process of modifying psychology by domestication, exactly the same 

 principles have been brought into operation as those to which we 

 attribute the modification of instincts in general ; for the processes of 

 artificial selection and training, in successive generations, are precisely 

 analogous to the processes of natural selection and lapsing of intelli- 

 gence in a state of nature. 



Touching what Mr. Darwin calls the artificial instincts of the dog, 

 I may first mention those which he has himself dilated upon — I mean 

 the instincts of pointing, retrieving, and sheep-tending ; but, as Mr. 

 Darwin has already fully treated of these instincts, I need not go over 

 the ground which he has traversed, and so shall confine myself to the 

 consideration of another artificial instinct, which, although not men- 



