148 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 



waters. With the first splash of the turning tide they hasten 

 inshore until they have attained safe ground. 



One of the best evidences of the mental state of these 

 animals is found in their actions when assailed by dogs or 

 other beasts of prey. Pigs, though wary and sensible of 

 danger, seern exempt from the extreme fear which leads to 

 panic, and fight, even before being brought to bay by long 

 chasing, in a discreet and valiant manner. Where a number 

 of them are attacked by dogs or other enemies, they will 

 form a circle with their heads out, each supporting the other 

 in such a manner that the ring cannot readily be broken. 

 Their thick-skinned forequarters and stout tusks provide 

 them with excellent instruments with which to resist an 

 assault. 



The sagacity of the pigs is probably, in part at least, to be 

 attributed to the fact that in their native state they are com- 

 munal animals, all the species of their family being accus- 

 tomed to live gregariously, so that for ages they have had 

 the training which every social organization, however simple, 

 affords. They are, moreover, omnivorous feeders, accus- 

 tomed to subsist on a great variety of food a habit which 

 seems in all cases to promote the development of the intel- 

 ligence in animals. 



Although the pigs by their nature afforded the best oppor- 

 tunity for developing an intellectual animal which has come 

 to us through our domesticated creatures, no effort whatever 

 has been made by selection to develop the latent mental 

 capacities of this species. It is perhaps the only form of 

 those which man has subjugated which by his treatment he 

 tends to degrade. In the time to come, when men will be 

 held to a better accountability for the treatment of their 



