CHAPTER II 

 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS 



GENERAL EFFECTS 



THROUGH long ages man wandered upon the plains 

 of the Old World, content if he could meet the needs 

 of the day by the primitive arts of the chase and of fishing. 

 Much experience had been gathered by the race of men 

 before the irresponsible hunter and fisherman settled down 

 to the responsibilities of the herdsman. Nevertheless so 

 many years have gone since our common domestic animals 

 were led by the hand of man from the wilds to the fold, that, 

 as the learned Dr Campbell admitted long ago, "it is no easy 

 Matter to penetrate so far through the Gloom of Antiquity 

 as to discern any Thing distinc.tly on this Head." Yet it is 

 easy to imagine that the breaking in of animals for his own 

 use raised civilized man from the slough of barbarism, in 

 which still flounder those races to whom the art is even now 

 unknown. By the labour of his Oxen, land beyond his own 

 powers of cultivation was brought under crops; his Horses 

 relieved him of the tedium of the march and transported his 

 goods to fresh fields; his Sheep supplied him with clothing; 

 and the constant presence of his flocks and herds banished 

 the distractions of the morrow's food supply. So his mind, 

 freed from immediate anxieties, turned to new pursuits, and 

 the care of his living possessions stimulated a sense of 

 responsibility and a sympathy with and forethought for their 

 welfare and improvement. 



No influence has been more potent in changing the 

 surface features of Scotland and in altering the relationships 

 of the wild life of the country than this forethought bred of 

 the care of domesticated animals. To supply his stock with 

 pastures, man has levelled forests, drained swamps, and 

 turned the wildernesses of mountain and moor into fertile 

 grazings. To gain for them scope and security, he has 

 restricted the wild fauna and has destroyed beasts and birds 



