THE MAMMALIA.— MAN AND BEASTS. 



45 



All t'ne other animal appetites, whicK were given for the preservation of the indi- 

 vidual such as IJunger, Thirst, and the desire of Sleep, when opposed, lead to an 

 immediate physical debility on the part of the animal. Those passions, on the 

 contrary, which were given for the continuation of the species, increase in proportion 

 to the obstacles presented to their gratification. Hence it is only by depriving them 

 of the organs from which these passions derive their source that we can bring them 

 under our power. 



In fact, the Bull, the Ram, and other Ruminants, can be domesticated solely after 

 havintr undergone this mutilation. We may thus perceive the error of holding out 

 the Ox and the Sheep as models of patience and submission. So far from this being 

 really the case, the Bull and the Ram can only be used for propagation ; and we have 

 merely succeeded in domesticating the females of these races. 



This operation is not necessary for Horses, although such as have undergone it 

 are generally more tractable than the others. The Dog loses by castration his entire 

 vi<your and activity; and this appears to be its usual effect upon other Carnassiers, 

 for we find that the domestic Cat is affected in the same manner as the Dog. 



It thus appears from the preceding observations, that we can only obtain an 

 authority over animals by means of their natural wants and propensities, by giving 

 them a new direction, by developing, or else by annihilating them altogether. 



The very small number of animals which we have hitherto succeeded in rendering 

 practically useful, when compared with the total number of species, renders it ex- 

 tremely probable that we have not yet carried the art of domestication to its extreme 

 limit, and that hereafter we shall discover the means of training new species to our 

 use, as well as more perfect methods of educating the old. 



It may easily be gathered from what has been already said, that the arts of taming 

 present very different results when applied to animals of different species. There 

 can be no comparison, for example, between the Dog and the Buffalo. The former 

 is devoted in his attachments, submissive, and grateful ; the latter wants docihty, 

 and indeed every benevolent affection. Between these two extremes, we may range 

 in their order of susceptibility, the Elephant, the Hog, the Horse, the Ass, the 

 Dromedary, the Camel, the Lamas, the Reindeer, the Stag, the Ram, and the 

 Bull. We shall defer the further investigation of the peculiar characters of all 

 these animals, until we come to describe the animals themselves. At present it is 

 necessary merely to take a rapid glance over the several tribes of Mammalia, in 

 reference to their different susceptibilities for domestication. 



It might have been expected that the Apes of the Old Continent, which combine 

 a high degree of intelligence to a structure the most favorable for the development 

 of all their qualities, would have presented conditions well adapted for Training ; 

 yet no male adult Ape has yet been induced to submit to Man, however kindly he 

 may be treated. We allude here to the Genera Cercopithecus, Macacusj and 

 Cynucephahts ; for the Orangs, with the Genera HUohates and Semnopithecusy are 

 still too little known to assert any thing positive concerning them. But in regard 

 to the Genera first mentioned, their sensations are so vivid, their natural distrust 

 so great, and all their emotions so violent, that they cannot be brought to observe 

 any degree of order, or to habituate themselves to any given situation. Nothinf^ 

 can satisfy their wants, which alter with every change of circumstances, and even 

 with the movements of the keeper round their cage. For which reason we can 

 never expect any kind feelings on their part. At the time when they are renderinfr 

 the most affectionate returns, they are ready in a moment to tear their master to 

 pieces; and this does not seem to proceed from any premeditated treachery, but all 

 their faults arise from the excessive unsteadiness of their tempers. 



Yet it would appear that by great severity, and by keeping them almost con- 

 tinually in torture, they can be made to go through certain exercises. It is 

 thus that the inhabitants of Sumatra succeed in training the Maimon (Macacus 

 nemestrimis) to climb trees when ordered, and to gather fruits; but these arts always 

 perish with the individual. As this kind of training is conducted solely by force, it 

 cannot be regarded as a real domestication. It is by the same means that we see 

 some of these animals, and especially the Alagots (^Macacun inuus}, learn to obev 

 their master, to leap with skill and precision, and to perform those astonishing dances 

 for which they are so well adapted by their organization and natural dexterity. But 

 being subdued by force alone, they are ever ready to run away; and in warm cU- 

 mates where they can obtain food, and do not require shelter, they are never known 

 to return. 



The American Apes with prehensile tails, such as the Ateles and Sapajous, are 

 much more. tractable, as they combine a great fondness for caresses and some attach- 

 ment, to a high degree of intelligence and social instinct. With the Lemurs, there 

 are so many difficxilties in training from their excessive timidity, that all attempts of 

 this kind must prove abortive. 



This last observation is also applicable to the Insectivora, which, in addition to other 

 difficulties, are possessed of an organization and Hmbs Httle favorable for training. 



All the Carna?sier3 of solitary habits, such as the Lion, the Panther, the Martins, 

 the Civets, the Wolves, and the Bears, ai-e easily accessible to kindness, but fear has 

 no power over them. While at large, they keep at a distance from all danger ; and 

 when confined, ill treatment only serves to enrage them. But if you satisfy all their 

 wants as soon as these become urgent, if they receive nothing but kindness at your 

 hands, and if no sound of your voice or motion of your limbs be threatening, soon 

 will these powerful animals show the satisfaction which they feel at yom- approach, and 

 give the most imequivocal proofs of their affection. Often the apparent mildness 

 of the Ape is followed by some treacherous act, but the external signs of a Carnas- 

 sier never deceive. If he be inclined to do mischief, every look and gesture betrays 

 his intention, and it is the same when he is mildly disposed. Lions, Panthers, and 

 Tigers, after having been tamed, may even be harnessed to a carriage, and they will 

 readily obey their keepers. Wolves trained for the chase have been kno^vn faithfully 

 to follow the pack of Hounds to which they belong. Every one has witnessed the 

 feats which Bears may be induced to execute. Yet we have not succeeded in bringing 

 these races to perform any actual service. Had this been effected, their superior 

 strength would doubtless have rendered them valuable acquisitions. 



The Seals are sociable animals, and in addition are gifted with surprising sagacity. 



They seem of all the Carnassiers the most susceptible of kindness, and may easily be 

 induced to perform any thing that their structure permits. Among the Rodentia, the 

 Beaver, Marmots, Squirrels, Dormice, and Hares, are so Httle gifted with intelligence, 

 that when we say theij feel^ the whole of their acquirements are summed up in one 

 word. It is true that they may be made to go through certain exercises, because they are 

 attracted by pleasure and avoid pain. But none of these animals will distinguish 

 their keeper from any other person, however attentive he may be to them; and in 

 this respect the social are not different from the solitary species. This seems to pro- 

 ceed from the excessive weakness of their memories. 



Passing onwards to the Tapirs, the Pecaris, the Cony (Hi/rax'), the Zebra, and other 

 Pachydermata or Solipeda, we find animals associating together in herds, grateful for 

 kindness received, and afraid of punishment, capable of distinguishing their keeper, and 

 often becoming very strongly attached to him. 



This is also the case, to a certain degree, with the Ruminantia, but chiefly with 

 the females; for, without any exception, the males of th's tribe are possessed of an 

 excessive brutahty, which punishment only increases, and kindness fails to improve. 



All that has here been adduced only shows the different means which may be adopted 

 in taming these animals, and in attaching them to our persons. Something more 

 than thig is required to produce actual Domestication, for it may be seen that ani-' 

 mals may be made to feel the influence of Blan, and yet they may not necessai'ily 

 become domesticated. 



Had we been compelled, with each generation of animals, to begin anew the pro- 

 cess of taming, we should not, properly speaking, ever have had domestic animals. 

 At least their domestication would not have had its full effect, and the important 

 consequences to the civilization of the human race would not have followed in its 

 train. Such woxild have been the result, had there not existed a most important 

 general law, which is found also to prevail in every department of animated life, — 

 that the changes undergone by the first tame animals did not die along with them, 

 but were transmitted to their offspring. 



It is a well-known fact, that the young of all animals bear a great resemblance to 

 their parents. This fact is equally true in regard to the human race, and seems not 

 merely to be confined to their physical qualities, but to extend also to their moral and 

 intellectual capabilities. Yet there are certain subordinate points in which animals 

 depart from their original type, and these arise from the circumstances under which 

 they have lived — such as the quantity or quality of their food, confinement, shelter 

 from the inclemencies of the weather, the attentions or punishments of Man. It 

 therefore follows, that those qualities which parents may transmit to their young are 

 capable of being influenced by accidental ciieumstances, and hence we are able to 

 modify animals and their descendants within certain limits, or, in other words, to form 

 domestic races. Thus we have given rise to numerous varieties of the Horse and the 

 Dog. Each breed or race possesses some qualities which adapt it for certain purposes 

 in preference to any other race, and these are transmitted to its descendants as long 

 as a course of opposite circumstances do not arise to disturb the effects of the former. 

 For these reasons, wc are obliged to adopt various means to preserve the purity of 

 the several races, or else to obtain, by the crossing of races, new or intermediate 

 qualities to those already formed. 



We may also observe, that those races which are the most domesticated, and the 

 most attached to Man, are precisely such as have received the action of the greater num- 

 ber of means for attaching them to his poison. The Dogs, for example, upon whom, 

 whether male or female, caresses have so powerful an effect, are undoubtedly the most 

 domesticated of all animals; while the Bull, which is only attached to us through its 

 food, and whose females are alone subjected tons, is certainly the least domesticated. 

 This difference between the Dog and the Bull is farther increased by the difference 

 in the fecundity of the two species. The Dog submits to nur influence a much greater 

 number of generations, in a given time, than the Bull. We are, of course, ignorant 

 of the circumstances which induced the Dog to attach itself to JIan, at the commence-- 

 ment, and also the manner in which he was reduced to his present state of submission ; 

 but every thing leads us to believe that his original disposition must have been exceed- 

 ingly favorable to domestication. From the great faciUty with which the Elephant 

 is tamed, we may conclude that if he were induced to breed in captivity, a race of 

 domestic Elephants might be formed, rivalling the Dog in submission and attachment. 

 Hitherto this has not been fairly tried; no attention has been paid, until very lately, 

 to the breeding of captive Elephants; and even in those warm countries where their 

 services are most necessary, wild Elephants are caught and tamed, while no efforts are 

 made to transmit these acquired characters to their descendants. 



An excessive fondness for society seems, however, to be another quality necessary 

 to form a true state of domestication, besides that power just explained of transmitting 

 to posterity their acquired instincts. There was originally a natural sociability of 

 disposition in all the domesticated animals which assisted our efforts. Had they all- 

 resembled the Wolf, the Fox, and the Hysena, in their fondness for solitude, had 



they always avoided the presence of their own species, — it is difficult to suppose that- 

 we ever could have been successful in our attempts. Perhaps, indeed, we might, 

 have succeeded, by long continued perseverance through a course of generations, in, 

 forming a race, domesticated to a certain point only, which would acquire a habit o£ 

 living along with us, until our luxuries would become almost necessary to it, as has been 

 done in the case of the domestic Cat ; but the difference between this sullen state of a 

 mere toleration of jMan and a real domestication is very great. We may also rest; 

 assured, that, bad not these animals originally presented some striking partiality for the 

 society of the human race, the attempt to domesticate them would never have been 

 made. It thus appears evident that the possession of great intelligence, of a general 

 mildness of character, and a susceptibility to rewards or punishments, are insufficient 

 of themselves to produce domestication. Without dispositions naturally social, the 

 animals now domesticated never could havo been induced to attach themselves to Man, 

 and to place themselves under his protection. 



There are many social animals, which cannot be domesticated; but it is an observa- 

 tion which holds true without one single exception, that all the domesticated animals 

 form troops or herds, more or less numerous, whether they are observed in the wild 

 state, or whether we consider only those portions of them v.hich, being left to them- 



