Karbj Aitthroixttoijiral ReMearrhrn 73 



I refer to tlie intellectiml ilefit-iencieH corrtwpoiiding to ihenv. moral flawH, ihown by the i 



with which men »r« endowed with the power of fruo and ori);iiml thoutfht, tv ~ •-->*! with 



the abundance of their reHpective fm^ultieM and their aptitude for oultur)\ I hI< .our to 



prove that tho HIavi^*h aptitudes, whosn expresmon in man I havi; fain'' ' •i.i..-'l. 



are the direct con8e<nu'nce of liin grej^arious natum, which, IttM-lf, is a f  i. ■. i. 



liarl)ariMin and of his Hulwetiuent forniH of civihsAtion. My arf(uiiii-iil v- .<ih 



animals pos-sess a want of self-reliance in a iiiarkeii clej^rev, that tlie I'Oii' of 



these animals have miule gregarious instincts a n(H,-es8ity to them, and th law of 



natural selection, these instincts and their accomjuiiiying slavish aptitml' . iWy be- 



come evolved. Then I shall argue, that our n-iuoto ani'cstors have live<l under parallel circum- 

 stances, and that we have inherited the gregarious instincts and slavish aptitudes which wcm 

 developed under those circumsUincos, although in our advanced civiliflation they are of more 

 harm than good to the race." (p. 353.) 



Gnlton points out how in earlier lite he had <raiiied an intimate knowledge 

 of certain types of gregarious animals. First he had foinid the camel's need for 

 companionship a never e.xhausted topic of curiou.s admiration in his tedious 

 days of travel across North African deserts (see our Vol. i, pp. 1 99 -205V 

 Secondly and chiefly he had spent more than a year in close association witn 

 the semi-wild cattle of Damaraland. He had travelled an entire journey on 

 the back of one of them with others at his side either as wagon or pack 

 cattle for which nearly a hundred were broken in, or wholly unbroken and 

 serving the purpose of an itinerant larder. He had often spent the night 

 in their midst while tlie cries of prowling carnivora sounded around. 



"These opportunities of studying the disposition of such peculiar cattle were not wasted 

 upon me. I had oidy too much leisure to think about them, and the habits of the animals 

 strongly attracted my curiosity. The Iwtter 1 understood them, the more complex and worthy 

 of study did their minds appear to me." (p. 354.) 



Galton then gives us a very striking account of the psychology of the 

 herd. 



One of the ditHculties in breaking in wild cattle is to obtain ' fore-oxen ' 

 for the team ; these must be those who are of an exceptional disposition — 

 born pioneers and leaders. 



"Men who break in wild cattle for harness watch assiduously for those who show a self- 

 reliant nature, by grazing apart or ahead of the rest, and these they bi-eak-in for fore-oxen. The 

 oth(>r cattle may lx> inditlerently devote<l to ordinary harness purposes, or to slaughtt-r; hut the 

 born leaders are far too rare to be used for any less distinguished service than that which they 

 alone are capable of fulfilling." (p. 354.) 



Galton considers that the law of "deviation from an average" — aliout 

 which he had recently been writing (see our Chapter X) — would certainly 

 be applicable to independence of character in cattle. He found every degree 

 of it from the ox that could be ridden even at a trot apart from his fellows 

 down to the ox that exhibits every .sign of mental agony when segregated 

 from the herd. The herd, with its mutual defence, its 'fore-oxen' as material 

 for leaders, and its own leader, is the product of a country infested by large 

 carnivora. A crouching lion fears oxen who tiu-n Iwldly upon him, and does 

 so with reason. The ' fore-oxen,' who are self-reliant, tend to be destroye<l. 



"Natui-al selection tends to give but one leader to a herd.... Looking at the matter in a 

 broad way we may justly assert that wild beasts trim and prune every heni into compactnuM, 



run l^ 



