NATURAL HISTORY. 199 



For forms are variable, and decay 



By course of kinde, and by occasion.&quot; SPENSER. 



to prevent the redundancy of species ; and equally prevents their 

 total extinction, which, on account of the unlimited powers of 

 destruction which man possesses, would sometimes occur, were 

 his choice more restricted. 



From a love of vegetable food, man is led to cultivate and render 

 the productions of tha soil abundant and wholesome ; and, in like 

 manner to the operation of his appetite upon animal productions, 

 he is impelled, by his love of variety, to cultivate every kind of 

 herb, shrub, and tree. 



599. The instinct of hunting if such a term may be applied to a being gifted with 

 the superior faculty of reason is universally diffused among, men. We find the 

 most untutored savage expert after his degree in the pursuits of the chase ; and, 

 under a regime of the most complete civilization, the gentleman is still a hunter. 

 Fortunately for him, he follows the chase no longer from necessity, or to procure 

 food, but simply to obtain from its mimic warfare a certain amount of relaxation 

 and excitement. The cultivation of the soil is a gauge of civilization. Where 

 agriculture and its kindred arts flourish, peace, health, and wealth are its attendants 

 upon man, while the fiercer and more ferocious animals either cease to exist, or are 

 kept within strong and impassable bounds. 



600. By what means is man enabled to influence the forms 

 and qualities of various animals which belong to them at their 

 birth ; and to create, as it were, new varieties at will ? 



Because all the individuals of the same species do not possess, to 

 the same degree, the physical and instinctive qualities with which 

 the species are generally endowed ; and by the exercise or the 

 influence of physical conditions, man can develop a particular 

 faculty, and consequently increase these differences. 



He may, within certain limits, modify races at his pleasure ; for 

 he is able to choose, or even to produce, individual differences, 

 which are transmissable from one to the other ; and to regulate 

 the succession of generations, so as to remove from them all that 

 would tend to separate the race from the type which he wishes to 

 produce ; and he can thus influence the hereditary qualities of the 

 young, as he had done those of their parents. 



