6 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 



the most effective means whereby his sympathetic, his civil- 

 ized motives may be broadened and affirmed, there is clearly 

 reason for giving to this side of life a larger share of atten- 

 tion than it has received. So far the presence of these lower 

 creatures in our society has generally been accepted as a 

 matter of course. Sentimentalists, after the fashion of Lau- 

 rence Sterne, have dwelt upon the imaginary woes of the 

 creatures. Associations of well-meaning people have en- 

 deavored to diminish the cruelty which people of the towns, 

 rarely those bred on the soil, often inflict upon them. It 

 seems, however, desirable that we should place this con- 

 sideration upon a plane more fitting the knowledge of our^ 

 time. It should be made plain, not only that the success of 

 our civilization depends now as in the past on the coopera- 

 tion which mankind has., had from the domesticated animals, 

 but also that the development of this relation is one of the 

 most interesting features in all history. On through the 

 ages of the geologic past comes this great procession of 

 life, in the endless succession of species whose numbers in 

 the aggregate are to be reckoned by the scores, if not by 

 the hundreds of millions. Until this modern age, the throng 

 goes forward blindly, groping its way towards the higher 

 planes of life. At length certain of the more advanced 

 forms attain to a measure of intellectual elevation. Still, 

 for all this advance, the life is not organized so as to attain 

 any large ends ; no society arises from it. 



Suddenly, in the last geological epoch, man, the descend- 

 ant of a group which like all others had led the narrow life 

 of the preparatory ages, appears upon the scene. At first, 

 and in his lower human estate, his position was not notice- 

 ably higher than that of his kindred, but there was in him 



