THE FLOCKS AND HERDS 143 



ments, looking to these ends, for not more than a century, 

 or say about forty generations of the species, the amount of 

 variation which has been attained is singularly great, the form 

 and habits having been changed more rapidly, and in a larger 

 measure, than in the case of any other of our domesticated 

 animals. It may fairly be said that this creature is more obe- 

 dient to the will of the practical selectionist than any other 

 with which we have experimented. 



It is commonly assumed that our pigs are among the least 

 intelligent of the creatures which man has turned to his use. 

 This impression is due to the fact that the conditions in which 

 these animals are kept insure their degradation by cutting 

 them off from all the natural mental training which wild ani- 

 mals, as well as the other tenants of the fields, receive. In the 

 state of nature or in the condition of domestication which 

 existed before pigs became captives in their pens, they were 

 among the most alert and sagacious animals with which man 

 has come in contact. Their wits were quick and their sympa- 

 thies with their kind remarkably strong. Trainers have found 

 these creatures more apt in receiving instruction than any 

 other of our mammals, and the things which they can be 

 made to do appear to indicate a native intelligence nearer 

 to that of man than is found in any other species below the 

 level of the apes. 



As there is ^ little in the books of anecdotes of animals 

 concerning pigs, I venture to give an account of a learned 

 individual of this species whose performances I had an oppor- 

 tunity of observing in much detail. The creature, an ordi- 

 nary specimen about three years old, had been trained by a 

 peasant in the mountain district of Virginia who made his 

 living by instructing animals for show purposes. He stated 



