46 



FIRST CLASS OF THE VERTEBRATED ANIMALS, 



. selves, have reverted to their original state of wildness. On the other hand, no soli- 

 tary species, however easily it may he tamed, has ever given rise to domestic races. 



Whenever we succeed by kindness to attach an animal, naturally sociable, to our 

 .persons, we merely induce it to transfer, for our own advantage, that allegiance which 

 it would naturally have paid to other animals of its own species. The habit of livinj^ 

 jWith us becomes to it a necessary of life; and the Sheep, which has been brought up 

 .by our care, follows its keeper just as it would have followed the flock in which it was 

 born. Our superior, intelligence soon destroys all equality between ourselves and 

 these animals ; our "Will guides them in the same manner as the strongest Stallion of 

 the herd would have become the chief, and be followed by all the weaker individuals 

 of which his herd is composed. The submission with which animals obey us is not 

 greater than what they would have yielded to their natural leader in the field. It is 

 true that our power is greater than his, because our means of persuasion are more 

 numerous, and we are able to suppress the greater number of those wants which, in 

 the wild state, would have estranged them from their leader. It may be said that 

 the Hack-Horse which has passed from hand to hand, and been owned by numerous 

 masters, so that all its natural attachments are weakened, if not altogether effaced, 

 g.ppears to have the same degree of docility to every person, and to be in a manner 

 obedient to the entire human race; and we must admit that this case has no corres- 

 ponding situation in the wild herd. But this objection will have no weight when we 

 consider, that when an animal, whether isolated or in a herd, has had only one master, 

 it is to him alone that he yields obedience and pays his allegiance. Every other per- 

 son is disowned or even treated as an enemy, just as a strange animal or the member 

 of another society would be in a wild herd. The Elephant allows himself to be guided 

 solely by the Mohout whom he has adopted. Even the Dog, when brought up in 

 solitude with his master, is fierce to all other Blen ; and every one is aware of the 

 danger of intruding among a herd of Cows, in pastures which are but little frequented, 

 without being accompanied by the Herdsman. 



Thus, every animal which acknowledges IMan as the chief of his herd is domesti- 

 cated. The converse is equally true, as Man could not enter into such a society 

 without immediately becoming the chief. 



From these observations it will readily appear, that in domesticating the inferior 

 animals, Man has only become a member of that society which these animals form 

 among themselves, and the authority he has acquired rests solely upon the superiority 

 qf his intelligence. 



GENERAL REVIEW OE THE MAMMALIA CONTINUED. 



Mammalia can he accurately studied only in Captivity — 'Popular errors from con- 

 sidering Mammalia when in the Wild State — Importance of Menageries or 

 Zoological Gardens — Several Species of Mammalia now wild are capable of 

 ieing domesticated. 



It is commonly, but erroneously supposed, that the character of the Mammalia can 

 only be studied when these animals are at liberty in their native haunts, and that in 

 a state of confinement, we can learn little of their real nature. Pining under the 

 restraints of confinement, they are supposed to offer for our observation nothing but 

 a series of artificial actions, totally unfit to convey those accurate notions which we 

 should acquire upon seeing them at liberty. According to Buffon, the confinements 

 of slavery are opposite to that state of Nature best fitted to exercise and develop all 

 their faculties. *' L'animal sauvage," he observes, '* n*obeissant qu'a la Nature, ne 

 connait dVutres lois que celles du besoin et de la liberte."- — (Tom. iv. p. 169.) 



This popular error, as to the method of studying the characters of animals, has 

 been repeated on the authority of Buffon by most subsequent -writers, and tends very 

 materially to retard the progress of scientific zoology. Its source may be traced, 

 partly in the prevailing notion that domestication is a state of slavery, an error which 

 ■we have already exposed, and partly in those visionary views of a pristine state of 

 native innocence and simplicity in which Man is placed by the imaginations of our 

 poets. From a natm-al association of ideas, these views are transferred to those ani- 

 mals which most resemble hinl. Their mistake upon this important point might have 

 been avoided, if Naturahsts had considered that when an animal is at large, it by 

 no means enjoys that fancied independence which is usually connected with our ideas 

 of a state of Nature. Its natural character is as liable to be modified by the irresist- 

 ible pressure of those circumstances m which it is placed, as it would have been in 

 the iron cage or paddock of its keeper. A wild animal prowling about with unresisted 

 sovereignty in the midst of forests and uninhabited deserts, is very different from the 

 same animal living at large in a thickly peopled country. Its character further 

 changes with the plenty or scarcity of its food — the sudden or gradual variations of 

 temperature — the numbers or vicinity of its own species — the strength and courage 

 of its rivals, and a thousand other circumstances. The same animal when made 

 captive is still further modified; it will scarcely be recognized if we succeed in taming 

 it, and still less so if it become susceptible of a true domestication. But whatever 

 modifications the animal may undergo, it always exhibits certain natural instincts and 

 dispositions which are peculiarly its own. Its condition may be altered, but the 

 original Nature remains the same under all circumstances. If new influential causes 

 come into operation, they produce corresponding effects, but these are always relative 

 to the faculties of the animal presenting them. Hence we consider these successive 

 modifications which it undergoes, however numerous or varied, merely as the means 

 of adaptation employed by Nature for bringing it into harmonious correspondence 

 with the several changes of situation ; and we are thus enabled to deduce its real 

 Nature from a proper comparison of the phenomena it presents with the conditions 

 under which they arose. 



That this is the only method of ascertaining the characters of Mammalia with ac- 

 curacy, may be farther seen upon considering fully the situation of an animal in the 

 wildest state of independence which can be imagined. Let us take a Ruminating 



animal for example, whose wants are more easily satisfied than those of a carDivoTons 

 quadruped, and place him in the middle of the rich savannahs of South America, in 

 the company of animals which are less able perhaps than those of any other country 

 to disturb his repose. This surely would appear at first sight a situation the most 

 favorable for the development of his natural propensities. 



As long as all the wants of the Ruminant are satisfied, he remains at rest (m the 

 soft couch, which accident or his own choice has assigned to him. He sleeps sound 

 in the consciousness of security, and when Hunger urges him to action, he findi his 

 food spread out before him. If it be Thirst that troubles him, the neighbouring 

 brook suffices to quench it. Thus his life passes on with a perfect sameness, alike 

 uninteresting to the philosophical observer, until the rutting season arrives. Then 

 urged onwards by a Wind fury, he seeks the female. Bellowing in the ardour of his 

 pursuit, he follows her traces, kills her if she resist and cannot fly, and either remains 

 the conqueror, or becomes the victim of those rivals whom he encounters on the 

 road. If successful, he is enfeebled by the violence of his passions, his ardour cools, 

 and he returns to his retreat in search of a repose, which to him has now become 

 necessary. There he remains following the same round of animal existence, \mtil the 

 anniversary of the rutting season again urges him on in his temporary career of 

 madness. 



- If we now consider the hfc of a Carnassier in the wild state, there is but little to 

 add to the uniform picture which we have here attempted to represent. Instead of 

 pasturing in the savannah, this animal springs upon his prey in the jungle, or else 

 pursues it in the desert. He is thus compelled to make use of other qualities beyond 

 those which a mere vegetable diet would have required. Sleep is perhaps equally 

 necessary to him, and probably as long in its duration as that of the Ruminant. All 

 the difference we find between them is, that the nature of the food with the Carnassier 

 demands the exercise of a greater degree of cunning, sagacity, and strength, more 

 caution in ensuring his own individual safety, or, if a female, also that of her youthful 

 progeny. 



Now, we ask is there any thing in the course of life followed by these animals, 

 which cannot be learnt equally well when they are in a state of captivity ? 



If we succeed in taking both the Ruminant and Carnassier alive, and transport 

 them into some Zoological Garden, we no longer find their Nature stupified with that 

 dull inactivity which has here been exposed. We can now place them in situations 

 much more complicated than any they could have experienced in the vFild state. We 

 can vary these situations, we can multiply their wants, or increase the dangers to 

 which they are exposed. It is then that we observe their natural dispositions deve- 

 loping themselves, that we find new propensities arise, new resources expand, and an 

 entirely different view of their Nature arises gradually before us. Then we begin 

 to perceive that the state in which animals are placed by the hand of Nature on the 

 earth, is not the most favorable for the development of their faculties. That con- 

 stant equilibrium of forces which prevails among all animal societies, gives to the 

 most powerful a preponderating influence over the weaker, which never allows the 

 latter liberty to act. It is only when the industry of Man intervenes, that animals 

 acquire the power of developing their faculties. When the overpowering forces, to 

 which they are subject in the wild state, are restrained, or diminished in their 

 action, we are able to discover the natural instincts and propensities of the animal, 

 and arrive at definite as well as varied results. 



The older Naturalists have fallen into many important errors from considering ani- 

 mals only in the wild state, and the characters which they have given to most Mam- 

 malia are in consequence imperfect, and in many instances altogether erroneous. 

 The illustrious Buffon, to whom we owe so many glovring descriptions of their cha- 

 racters, adorning with the charms of his eloquence subjects hitherto confined only 

 to the severer studies of the learned, gives many striking instances of these mistakes, 

 which, of course, have been repeated after him by most popular compilers. 



" The Lion," he tells us, *' unites with a high degree of fierceness, courage, and 

 strength, the more admirable qualities of nobleness, clemency, and magnanimity. 

 Often he forgets that he is the sovereign, that is, the strongest of all animals — .and 

 walkmg with a gentle step, he does not deign to attack Man except when provoked 

 to the combat. He neither quickens his step nor flies, and never pursues the inferior 

 animals except when urged by hunger." Again, on referring to his description of 

 the Tiger, we find the same eminent Naturalist observing, " That the Tiger presents 

 a compound of meanness and ferocity; he is cruel without justice, that is, without 

 necessity. He seems always thirsty for blood, although his hunger may be satisfied 

 with flesh. His fury knows no other intermission than the time spent in ambush for his 

 prey. He seizes and devours a second prey with the same fury, which seems to have 

 been unly exercised, and not glutted, in the blood of the first." 



These differences which Buffon describes, probably on the authority of travellers, 

 could only have arisen from the different circumstances under which these animals 

 had lived. It is one of the facts which the institution of properly -regulated Zoolo- 

 gical Gardens or Rlenageries has disclosed, that the Lion and the Tiger have very 

 nearly the same iiatural dispositions. When placed in the same circumstances, thej 

 constantly present the same phenomena. The one is tamed with the same facihty as 

 the other ; they have the same attachment to their keeper, they make the same 

 acknowledgments for kindness received, and their hatred or passion is excited by the 

 same causes. Their sports and gambols bear the same resemblance as their fears 

 and desires. They both seize their prey with the same eagerness, and defend it with 

 the same fury. In a word, if we abstract the differences of their form, they seem to 

 be absolutely the same animal, so close do their characters correspond in every 

 respect. 



Again, there is the Hyccna. Every one has heard of "the untameable Hyaena, 

 that fierce beast which," according to the Showman, " was never tamed since thft 

 memory of Man." Its name has been long considered as the emblem of the most 

 determined ferocity and cruelty. Buffon, and the most eminent Naturalists, lend their 

 names as authorities for the assertion. Yet when we come to submit the Hyaena to 

 the experiments of the Menagerie, its character yields to the influence of science, 

 like the most untractable earth before the galvanic pile of the chemist. We then 

 find that the Hycena is a most tameable animal. When treated with kindness, it 



