G8 M Cavier on the Domestication of 



sports are similar, as well as the manifestations of their fears 

 or desires ; that they seize their prey with the same avidity, 

 and defend it with the same fury; in a word, that their natural 

 dispositions are absolutely the same. What lias not been said 

 of the hyena? lis very name has become the emblem of the 

 most sanguinary cruelty; and, in imitation of CufFon, the most 

 sagacious naturalists have adopted the prejudice which places 

 this animal in the first rank of ferocity. The truth is, that the 

 hyena, treated with kindness, comes to the feet of its master, 

 like a dog, soliciting caresses and food ; and wo have several 

 limes seen it doing so. I might multiply examples of this kind 

 to infinity, and hence prove, on the one hand, that, in a state 

 of independence, animals exist under circumstances so con- 

 cealed, that wc can only very rarely appreciate the influence 

 which they exercise over them; and, on the other, that 

 captivity, by affording us the means of withdrawing animals 

 from the powers which, in the contrary state, rule over or 

 restrain them, in order to subject them to the other powers, 

 permits us to make a more accurate and more complete 

 examination of them. 



It is undoubtedly because we have constantly been in the 

 habit of observing wild animals in a state of liberty alone, and 

 because we have confined ourselves to describing the actions 

 which then accidentally presented themselves, that this important 

 branch of natural history has hitherto only been enriched by 

 isolated facts, which have often appeared to be without mutual 

 accordance, because no bond united them, and because no 

 principle directed the observer in. his inquiries ; for no principle 

 rould be deduced from these hypotheses, which originated in 

 the desire of explaining the cause of the actions of brutes, in 

 order to harmonise them with the idea which was formed of the 

 cause of the actions of man. These hypotheses, not having 

 any foundation in nature, could only mislead those who rested 

 upou them. 



For a long time it was admitted, that the moral perfection of 

 man depended upon the perfection of his organs ; and if this 

 error at length yielded to evidence, it was yet cherished in full 

 force with reference to animals. Those who had the most 

 delicate senses, the most pliant limbs, and most favorable to 

 motion, were necessarily the most intelligent ; and the monkeys 

 and camivora seemed to confirm this rule. But the possession 

 of several seals, that is to say mammifera whose limbs are con- 

 verted into fins, which are destitute of external ears, whose 

 eyes, formed for a liquid medium, can only sec imperfectly in 

 the air whose nostrils open only when the animal inspires and 

 whose body, clothed with a thick layer of fat, has, so to speak 



