152 



M A M M A L I A. 



them. It is quite impossible to teach a cat docility by 

 the application of the whip, and an animal of this 

 species cannot read the expression of the human coun- 

 tenance, but looks on with most perfect indifference 

 whether those who are about her be angr} r or pleased. 

 When threatened, she always endeavours to escape, 

 and if this is prevented, she shows battle in her own 

 defence. A dog 1 , on the other hand, not only crouches 

 down to lick the hand which has just been chastising 

 him, but he interprets every look, and he will fight to 

 death in defence of his master, or even of his mas- 

 ter's property if he gets charge of it, and has been 

 trained to watch. 



The distinction between those two races of house 

 animals, with which every body is familiar in one or 

 other of their varieties, is one which throws no incon- 

 siderable light on the general principle of domestica- 

 tion, and the connexion which it has with the structure 

 of the animal on which the experiment has to be tried. 

 We have already mentioned that the fore feet of the 

 cat family, in all its varieties, are quite as much pre- 

 hensile instruments in seizing the prey as they anj 

 walking feet ; the whole race too are leaping animals, 

 which bring the elasticity of the back bone largely 

 into play when they take their leaps ; and the smaller 

 ones which prey much upon birds, are capable of 

 climbing trees, partly by leaping, and partly by hold- 

 ing on by the claws. Though they can walk, they 

 are not therefore exclusively walking animals ; and it 

 is worthy of remark, as tending to establish the con- 

 nexion between exclusively walking feet and domes- 

 tication, that the hunting leopards of India which are 

 trained for the chase, and are the only animals of the 

 cat family which can be made available for such a 

 purpose, have the claws only very partially retractile, 

 and therefore not nearly so efficient clutching instru- 

 ments as the claws of common cats, while there is a 

 resemblance to the dog family in the general cast of 

 the body of these leopards. 



The dog family, in those races which are still in a 

 state of nature, and in such of the dogs, properly so 

 called, as have relapsed nearly to that state, are 

 social, and they are more active and more brave than 

 the cat family. It seems, indeed, that social animals 

 can borrow courage from each other, much in the 

 same manner as many soldiers stand in battle because 

 their regiments stand, who would otherwise take to 

 their heels ; and this proves that the instinct which 

 unites animals into packs or societies is much stronger 

 and more intimately connected with their general 

 nature than we would be apt to suppose. One 

 mountain sheep will endeavour to escape by flight 

 from the fox, whereas, if there are a considerable 

 number, they will advance in a crescent upon him, 

 and make him retreat, or beat him flat with repeated 

 blows of their foreheads, if he so far forgets his 

 native cunning as to wait till they have enclosed him. 



It is not from the society of animals of their own 

 species only that social animals, whether predatory 

 or not, appear to derive confidence. If one meet a 

 solitary dog on the hill, arid show as much disposition 

 to attack him as the mere demonstration of bowing 

 down to lift up a tt>ne, the dog will scamper off with 

 drooping tail and all other signs of fear. If, on the 

 other hand, a dog of the same description, or even 

 the same dog, is with his master or with sheep, or in 

 charge of property, he will show a disposition to 

 repel any ottered hostility ; and if he approaches a 

 remote cottage, he will come to a considerable distance 



offering hostilities to a stranger. All domesticated 

 animals show courage in the presence of human 

 beings ; and the constancy of this increase of cou- 

 rage, or confidence, or whatever else it may be called, 

 from society of any kind, leaves no doubt that it is 

 their social disposition which attaches them to their 

 home and their herd in a state of domestication. 



The foundation of the principle of taming, and the 

 real value to which animals can be turned by man in 

 a domestic state, are among the most useful practical 

 points in the natural history of the mammalia. Besides 

 the use of the flesh of animals as food, and the cover- 

 ings of their bodies and appendages in the arts, it is 

 clear that an animal can be directly useful to man 

 only in so far as it renders his labour lighter or his 

 condition more secure. We have already said that in 

 the general view of the matter, the walking animal is 

 necessarily the one which can render man the most 

 assistance in these ways. We do not now speak of 

 the flesh of animals, of their skins, their wool, their 

 horns, or any other parts of their bodies as being 

 valuable in the arts ; for all these are useful only as 

 substances, and though they are the produce of ani- 

 mals, they are not available for any purpose in the 

 arts, until after they have ceased to be animate. The 

 service we derive from them is not therefore the ser- 

 vice of animals ; and there is perhaps no animal 

 substance used in this way for which a proper sub- 

 stitute might not be found in the vegetable or the 

 mineral kingdom. The true animal service is that 

 which, if not performed by the animal, would require, 

 if performed at all, to be performed by man himself. 

 Even as this service is usually estimated, there are 

 some parts of it, and those by no means the lightest 

 or the least important parts, which are not of a genuine 

 animal character in the restricted and proper sense 

 of the term. In all cases where a mechanical or 

 chemical power, such as the motion of the wind, the 

 fall of water, or the production and condensation of 

 steam in an engine can be substituted for the power 

 of animals, the application of the animal is not strictly 

 legitimate, and though the use of it may in many such 

 cases be unavoidable, it should seem that it is always 

 used to a disadvantage, because only one part of it, 

 its mere mechanical strength, is brought into play, and 

 the sagacity of the animal, which is frequently the 

 most valuable part of it, lies unemployed. 



Thus, for instance, when a horse is applied to turn 

 the wheel of a mill or gin, to drag a boat along a 

 canal, or to perform any other labour along a con- 

 tinuous and invariable path, there comes nothing into 

 action but the main strength of the horse ; and if it 

 be possible to substitute some mechanical power 

 instead of the horse, it will always be better to do it, 

 because the horse may be more advantageously em- 

 ployed in some other situation where his sagacity as 

 well as his mechanical strength can be turned to 

 account. 



There is, however, a limit to even this mecha- 

 nical substitution, and perhaps, for purposes of genuine 

 economy, it is a much more narrow limit than many 

 persons believe, more especially in an age of great 

 mania for mechanical power, both on the part of those 

 who make a profit not of the actual application of 

 such power, but of the proposed application of it in 

 the first instance, and on the part of those who igno- 

 rant of every principle and every application of 

 mechanics, are carried away by a fond but unfoXinded 

 expectation of a gambling game greater than ex- 



