80 M. Cuvier on the Domestication of 



of a social species, we have developed to our own advantage, 

 we have directed towards ourselves, the propensity which 

 impelled them to draw near to their fellows. The habit of 

 living near us has become in them a want so much the more 

 powerful, that it is founded in nature ; and the sheep which we 

 have reared is led to follow us as it would be led to follow the 

 flock among which it was brought forth; but our superior 

 intellect soon destroys all equality between animals and us; 

 and it is our will which governs theirs, as the stallion, which, 

 from its superiority, has become the chief of the herd which it 

 leads, draws after it all the individuals of which this herd is 

 composed. There is no resistance, so long as each individual 

 can act conformably to the wants by which it is excitod ; it 

 commences whenever this situation is changed. It is for this 

 reason that the obedience of animals to us is not more absolute 

 than to their natural chiefs ; and if our authority is greater 

 than theirs, it is because our means of enticement are also 

 greater, and because we have been able to restrain, in a great 

 degree, the inclinations which, in the natural state, would have 

 excited the will of the animals which we have associated with 

 us. Every thing, therefore, tends to convince us, that men 

 who are particularly charged with the care of them, arc only 

 members of the society which these animals form among them- 

 selves ; and that they are only distinguished in the general 

 mass by the authority which they have been enable to assume 

 from their superiority of intellect. 



Thus, every social animal, which recognises man as a mem- 

 ber and as the chief of its herd, is a domestic animal. It 

 might even be said, that, from the moment when such an 

 animal admits man as a member of its society, it is domesti- 

 cated; as man could not enter into such a society without be- 

 coming the chief of it. 



Should we now apply these principles to the wild animals, 

 which are of a nature that renders them capable of subjection^ 

 we should see that there are seveial which might become 

 domesticated, were it necessary to increase the number of those 

 which we already possess. 



The seals, perhaps, more than any other carnivorous animals, 

 together with the various species of the dog tribe, would be 

 the best adapted to attach themselves to us, and serve us ; 

 and it is astonishing that the fishing tribes of our species have 

 not trained them for fishing, as the hunting tribes have trained 

 the dog to the chase. 



Almost all the pachydermata, which are not yet domesti- 

 cated, might be so;' and it is especially to be regretted that the 

 tapir is still in a wild state. Much superior to the boar in size 



