CHAPTER III 

 HOW ANIMALS AND PLANTS CAME TO BE DOMESTICATED 



Domestication the result of necessity • Need for help in the hunt • Need for 

 additional food • Need for clothing and shelter • Need for labor • Domesti- 

 cation the first step in civilization • The civilizing effect of slavery • What 

 animals have done for us • Unused materials • Lost possibilities • Domestica- 

 tion a gradual process • Species that were domesticated 



Domestication the result of necessity. Domestication both of 

 animals and plants came naturally out of the needs of primitive 

 man. If he could have maintained himself successfully on the 

 spontaneous products of nature, he would never have undertaken 

 the trouble of domesticating the wild animals and plants about 

 him, and of assuming the labor and responsibility of their main- 

 tenance and care. 



It early became, however, a matter of necessity. Primitive 

 man, like the animals about him, lived under hard conditions. 

 The " law of the wild " l was the law everywhere. Everything 

 subsisted by virtue of its strength, its endurance, or its wits, and 

 man, like his animal neighbors, spent most of his time in get- 

 ting something to eat and in avoiding being eaten himself. As 

 compared with the other animals, — for primitive man is little 

 else than an animal, — our barbarian ancestors found themselves 

 at no little disadvantage, purely on physical grounds. They 

 were not as strong as many of the animals and were no match 

 for them in fair battle. They were not as fleet of foot as most 

 of the game they hunted. They could not trail by scent like 

 the wolf, and if the hunter by sheer endurance stalked his game 

 and walked it to death, 2 he was far from camp or cave where his 



1 See Chapter V. 



2 Man is probably the best walker among the animals and can easily outwalk 

 even the horse in an endurance test. 



