EUROPEAN DOMESTIC ANIMALS KELLER. 485 



scientific and unchallengeable manner, showing that already with 

 the beginning of the Lake Dwellings a goodly number of domestic 

 animals had made their appearance in Europe. They were some- 

 what (liiTcrent, it is true, from the present forms, being more primitive 

 and simpler in their race fusion, but nevertheless the races of to-day 

 have their foundation in many instances in those of the Lake Dwell- 

 ings. Riitimeyer's opinions, although many times attacked, have 

 in the main remained unshaken. Riitimeyer was not satisfied to 

 simply expound the historic facts, but he attempted in a number of 

 cases to connect these animals with their wild progenitors by com- 

 parative anatomic studies. It is true the material available at that 

 time was very limited. The domestic animals of Asia and Africa 

 were little kno'wn. Even Europe, which might have furnished val- 

 uable keys to the situation, was insufficiently explored, and in fact 

 remains so to-day. The genial Riitimeyer nevertheless recognized 

 the relations with ancestral forms perfectly correctly. He cleared up 

 the cattle question and in conjunction with Hermann v. Nathusius, 

 determined in a different manner the derivation of the domestic pig. 

 Other derivation questions, which he did not deem sufficiently clear, 

 he left open for future consideration. 



Charles Darwin hailed Riitimeyer's discoveries with great enthusi- 

 asm in Englantl. He was even stimulated to undertake personal 

 investigations, which resulted in a commendable expounding of the 

 derivation of the pigeons, chickens, and rabbits. Even in the phy- 

 logeny of the dogs, he developed correct and basic principles. 



Other questions of the day forced the problem of domestic animals 

 into the background, whence it later emerged to a promment position. 

 A retrogressive movement tended to discredit the Darwinian basis. 

 But the domestic species were responsible for the most important 

 foundation of the Darwinian teachings, and a careful revision of 

 these, therefore, seemed absolutely necessary to support these doc- 

 trines. In fact, the study of the history of the domestic animals of 

 Europe and other places had never ceased. Austria has at all times 

 displayed a lively mterest in such problems. I will remind you of 

 Fitzinger, who followed domesticated animal geography until 1876. 

 The labors of Wilkens and especially those of Leopold Adametz have 

 thrown much light upon the cattle question viewed from the zootech- 

 nic standpoint, while those of Woldrich and Jeiteles have empha- 

 sized the ])rehistoric side. In Germany the labors of ^Ylft-ed Nehring 

 are well known. With the assistance of my students I have per- 

 sonally attacked the problem of the domesticated animal in all its 

 phases, and thus a lot of material has accumulated, which will give 

 us a clearer insight into the question. If we examine the derivation 

 S53G0°— SM 1912 32 



