THE PROBLEM OF DOMESTICATION 249 



which have done so much to improve the utility and the 

 beauty of most subjugated forms. 



If the elephants could be reared in captivity there is little 

 reason to doubt that with a few centuries of selection they 

 might be made to vary in many important ways. It is evident 

 that the form and mental quality of these creatures is as 

 plastic as those features in the other domesticated animals 

 have been proved to be. Moreover, the group, though it is 

 now represented by but two recognized species, was in com- 

 paratively recent times quite rich in varieties, a fact which 

 raises the presumption that the existing kinds are open to 

 modification by the selective process. As the elephant 

 is not mature until it is near thirty years old, probably 

 not reproducing until about that age, there is little induce- 

 ment for any person to undertake the process of breeding 

 them in the selective way ; if the task is ever done it will 

 have to be accomplished by government action or by that 

 of a society which is pledged to such tasks. If the effort 

 to bring the elephants into a more permanent relation with 

 man is not made and the race is allowed to perish, we may 

 be sure that in the time to come people will gravely censure 

 us for any such neglect of the opportunities which this world 

 affords as would be involved in the loss of this noble brute. 

 It is clearly our duty to see that all such resources are pre- 

 served for the inquirers of the future. 



Among the other tropical mammals which, because they 

 have not as yet proved of economic value, are on account of 

 their size and their attractiveness to sportsmen in danger 

 of extinction, we may note the various species of rhinoceros, 

 the giraffe, and the several African forms which are akin 

 to the horse. None of these forms have been turned to use, 



