UTILITARIAN ZOOLOGY 
CHAPTER LXAVII 
ANIMAL FRIENDS—ANIMALS AS A SOURCE OF FOOD— 
DOMESTICATION—DOMESTICATED MAMMALS 
The view taken in this work as to the scope of Utilitarian 
Zoology has been sufficiently indicated in the Introduction (see 
vol. i, p. 18), and if by no means free from objection, it may 
serve to marshal important facts and principles in a fairly orderly 
manner. 
Although the feeding habits of Man differ greatly according to 
the environment, he may fairly be described as omnivorous (see 
vol. ii, p. 225), but the proportion of animal food taken increases 
as we pass from tropical and sub-tropical regions into higher 
latitudes. The commissariat question has necessarily been a 
dominant factor in the evolution of human civilization, and this is 
abundantly evident if we recall the oft-told story of that evolution 
so far as Western Europe is concerned. In this area, as is 
generally known, there have been successive Ages of Stone, 
Bronze, and Iron, names indicating the materials employed in 
making the chief weapons and implements. During the first of 
these ages prehistoric man passed through the three most im- 
portant stages marking the progress of civilization, ze. those of 
(1) the Hunter and Fisherman, (2) the nomad Herdsman and 
Flock-Master (pastoral stage), and (3) the Tiller of the Soil 
(agricultural stage). The first two of these (and of course the 
third) still find parallels among existing races. In an interesting 
little book by Jenks (4 History of Politics) the native Australians 
are taken as an illustration of the first stage:-—‘‘ The material side 
of Australian existence may be best described in a series of nega- 
tives. The savages understand neither the cultivation of the land 
nor the rearing of sheep and cattle. Their only domestic animal 
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