10 M. Flourens's Historical Eloge on 



mals all the phases of the passions of man. The simple obser- 

 vation of M. F. Cuvier has supplied us with the fact such 

 as it really is, and has placed it on the only solid basis of 

 science. 



All naturalists, the predecessors of M. F. Cuvier, had recog- 

 nised, in the domestication of animals, nothing more than a very 

 general result of that power which man exercises over the 

 beasts. But he has shewn that the domestication of animals, 

 that fact so exceedingly important in the history of our race, 

 is dependent on a very peculiar circumstance, viz. on their 

 sociability. There has not, in fact, a single species become 

 domestic which, naturally, does not live in society, and in 

 troops ; and, of the numerous solitary species which it would 

 uncmestionably be man's interest to associate withhimself, there 

 is not a single one which has been domesticated. Man, there- 

 fore, in forcing animals to obey him, does not change their 

 natural condition, as Buffon has affirmed ; on the contrary, all 

 that he does is to avail himself of their natural character. In 

 other words, man found animals sociable, and he made them 

 domestic. 



And even here I must take the liberty of pointing out a trait 

 which characterizes far better than any words I can use, the 

 kind of sagacity which was peculiar to M. F. Cuvier, and which 

 was so useful to him in the delicate analysis of the complicated 

 phenomena which were the subject of his studies. I allude to 

 the distinction which he established, a distinction at once so 

 true and so profound, between a domesticated animal and a tame 

 one. Man may tame species even the most solitary and the 

 most savage. Thus he tames the bear, the lion, the tiger, and, 

 notwithstanding this, not one of these solitary species has ever 

 been found to supply a domesticated race. The domestication, 

 therefore, of an animal, is simply a consequence of its very 

 nature, and of that wrich is most inherent in its nature — its 

 instinct. 



From all this it may readily be conceived, and that without 

 prompting, how much these enlightened views of the primary 

 causes of the domestication of animals have a bearing on mat- 

 ters of practical utility, and especially if applied to agriculture 

 and domestic economy. M. F. Cuvier believed that manv 



