THE PROBLEM OF DOMESTICATION 



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beauty which attracts and the mental qualities which may 

 endear them to mankind. They can give us nothing that 

 can ever come so close to us as the dog the unique gift 

 of the wilderness but they may afford a host of forms to 

 enrich our lives. 



The mammals, because they are, in qualities of body and 

 mind, nearer to us than the members of any other class of 

 animals, afford the most promising field from which to make 

 selections for future domestication. In an economic sense 

 it seems unlikely that any very great profit can be attained by 

 the subjugation of any of the mammalian species which are 

 still wild. Civilized people have been so long in contact with 

 the life of all the continents, and have ever been so hungry 

 for gain, that they have already essayed about every experi- 

 ment in subjugating the larger, wild beasts which appears 

 to be very promising. Still there are certain cases where 

 there have been no trials and others where the failure to 

 tame particular species has been due to hindrances which 

 systematic labor may possibly overcome. It will therefore 

 be well to glance at the array of the wild forms which 

 afford some prospect of success in the hereafter, including 

 under the title of successes those kinds which may contri- 

 bute not only to immediately measurable wealth, but the 

 aesthetic satisfactions as well. 



Beginning with the lowlier group of mammals we find 

 in the base of the series the ornithorhynchus and its allies, 

 creatures which have nothing to recommend them but their 

 exceeding organic peculiarities that render them attractive 

 to the naturalist, but which are not likely to win them a 

 place in the affections of men in general. As these species 

 are most inoffensive as well as interesting, and as they 



