OF THE HUMAN STECIES. -Ill 



ropean progenitors*. How remarkably again have the domes- 

 tic swine degenerated from the wild ones in the Old World: 

 in the loss of the soft downy hair from between the bristles ; 

 in the vast accumulation of fat under the skin, in the form 

 of the cranium ; in the figure and growth of the whole body. 

 The varieties of the domestic animal too are very numerous : 

 in Piedmont they are almost invariably black ; in Bavaria 

 reddish-brown ; in Normandy white, &c. The breed in 

 England, with straight back and large pendulous belly, is 

 just the reverse of that in the north of France, with high con- 

 vex spine and hanging head : and both are different from 

 the German breed ; to say nothing of the solidungular race 

 found in herds in Hungary and Sweden, and already known 

 by Aristotle, and many other varieties. 



The ass, in its wild state, is remarkably swift and lively, 

 and still continues so in his native Eastern abode. 



Tiie original stock of our poultry cannot be determined, 

 nor can the varieties into which they have run be enume- 

 rated. No wild bird in our climates resembles the domes- 

 tic cock ; the pheasant, grous, and cock of the woods, are 

 the only analogous kinds : and it Is uncertain whether these 

 would intermix and have prolific progeny. They have con- 

 stituted distinct and separate species from the earliest times, 

 and they want the combs, spurs, and pendulous membranes 

 of the gallinaceous tribes f. 



There are twenty-nine varieties of canary-birds known 

 by name, all produced from the gray bird |. 



Most of the mammalia, which have been tamed by man, 

 betray their subjugated state by having the ears and tail pen- 

 dulous ; a condition of the former parts, which, 1 believe, 

 belongs to no wild animal. In many, the very functions of 

 the body, as the secretions, generation, &c. are greatly 

 changed. See the examples mentioned In chap. VI. p. 382. 



The application of these facts to the question concerning 

 the human species is very obvious. If new characters are 



* Clwigero, Storin antica del Messico, v. iv. p. 145. 



f BuiFON, V, xii. p. 112. ^ Ibid. v. xiv. p. 61. 



