2 20 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 



his own separate estate in animal life is to separate men 

 from the creatures of the wilderness. "Wild" and "tame" 

 come to be terms having a meaning which the savage does 

 not recoenize, and this meanincr has with the advance of 

 culture become intensified, until to most men the only creat- 

 ures entitled to protection are those which have been made 

 subject to man. 



At first the process of domestication concerned only useful 

 animals or plants, those which would take a part in our 

 industries. Rapidly, however, these creatures have been 

 adopted with the view to the sesthetic satisfaction which 

 they might afford. Quite half of the number of species 

 which have come under human control have been tamed 

 mainly if not altogether because of the charms which they 

 possess. If we reckon flowering plants in the category, by 

 far the greater number of our captives have been brought 

 to us because of their beauty. 



The work of domestication has in the main been effected 

 by our own Aryan race. Out of the total number of ani- 

 mals and plants which have been made captives, probably 

 more than two-thirds have been brought into subjection 

 by the European Aryans or by the folk whom they have 

 profoundly affected with their civilizing motives. The dis- 

 position to win goods from the wilderness is in effect a fair 

 test of those qualities in a people which give them domi- 

 nance : we may indeed roughly measure the qualities of 

 diverse folk by a variety of conquests of this kind, which 

 they have made. The reason for this relation is plain. Suc- 

 cess, whether it be of the individual or of the race, depends 

 in large measure upon forethoughtfulness, on a disposition 

 to study as to where profit may be had, and intelligently to 



