356 Fundamental Principles of 



in reclaiming that noble animal, and making him docile 

 and obedient. They begin with making a great circuit, 

 in order to approach him, and rather decoy than force 

 him into the situation in which they wish to bring him, 

 and ever afterwards treat him with the greatest kind- 

 ness ; it having been found by experience that ill-usage 

 seldom fails to make him "a man-hater," untamable, 

 and incorrigibly vicious. It may, perhaps, be thought 

 fanciful and trifling, but the fact really is that an atten- 

 tion to the means used by these people to gain the 

 confidence of those animals, and teach them to like 

 their keepers, their stables, and their mangers, sug- 

 gested to me many ideas which I afterwards put in 

 execution with great success, in reclaiming those 

 abandoned and ferocious animals in human shape 

 which I undertook to tame and render gentle and 

 docile. 



It is, however, necessary, in every attempt to intro- 

 duce a spirit of order and industry among the idle and 

 profligate, not merely to avoid all harsh and offensive 

 treatment, which, as has already been observed, could 

 only serve to irritate them and render them still more 

 vicious and obstinate; but it is also indispensably 

 necessary to do every thing that can be devised to 

 encourage and reward every symptom of reformation. 



It will likewise be necessary sometimes to punish the 

 obstinate ; but recourse should never be had to punish- 

 ments till good usage has first been fairly tried and 

 found to be ineffectual. The delinquent must be 

 made to see that he has deserved the punishment, 

 and when it is inflicted care should be taken to make 

 him feel it. But in order that the punishment may 

 have the effects intended, and not serve to irritate the 



