vi • DOMESTICATED ANIMALS AND PLANTS 



study of the text. Almost any neighborhood will afford speci- 

 mens entirely suitable for this purpose. 



A glossary of terms will be found convenient in connection 

 with both text and reference reading. 



More explicitly, the purpose of the first three chapters is to 

 bring out the way in which our domesticated races came among 

 us, and our dependence upon their services. In this connection 

 and at this point should come as much as possible of the detailed 

 study of separate species as given in Part II. 



The intent of the writer at this point is fourfold : first, to 

 arouse interest in the field which affords the subject matter of 

 the real discussion ; second, to bring together a body of knowl- 

 edge about domesticated animals and plants on which the student 

 may rely, making it possible for other chapters to be less con- 

 crete and more abstract ; third, to connect that body of knowledge 

 with the zoology and the botany of the high school ; fourth, to 

 give the student some acquaintance with the behavior of ani- 

 mals and plants both in a state of nature and when undergoing 

 domestication. 



Chapters V and VI are designed not only to bring out the 

 power of selection, but also to give the student some working 

 knowledge of the complicated manner in which it operates in 

 nature. Both error and bad science abound through the failure 

 to distinguish between the facts of nature and the poetic license 

 that is often employed by writers who choose nature subjects as 

 means of teaching human truths. This kind of anthropomor- 

 phism we may wink at, if we understand what is meant when 

 animals are made to talk and trees and flowers to think ; but we 

 cannot forgive that kind of pseudoscience wherein, though the 

 purpose of the writer is plainly to teach the facts of nature, yet 

 the facts are either badly distorted or incompletely conveyed. 



In Chapter VII the distinct purpose is to draw the attention 

 away from the animal or plant as an individual and direct it to 

 the more or less independent units of which it is composed. 

 A train of cars seen at a distance looks like a single unit, but 



