DOMESTICATION. 55 
the park, which is so large that the confinement, one would think, 
could scarcely be felt, I had imagined that the constitutional 
vigor might have been impaired when young, by having been 
nourished by cows’ milk ; but such was certainly not the case in 
this instance. If in my grounds they fail to find some kind of 
food which their well-being requires, such could not have been the 
case where Dr. Canfield tried his experiments. Altogether it is 
manifest that further observations must be made, and further 
experiments tried, than I have been able to make or learn, before 
we arrive at a satisfactory comprehension of this branch of our 
subject. 
I believe, however, that with time and care all the difficulties 
which now present themselves to the complete domestication of 
this interesting animal may be overcome, and that without these 
they will soon be known only as an extinct race. They would 
require at first to be kept in large inclosures on their native 
plains, with a keeper to show himself among them daily, who 
would introduce them gradually to new food, such as the various 
kinds of cereals, with a careful observation as to how they could 
bear it. Even then, some might sicken and die, but others no 
doubt would be capable of bearing it, and the small restraint and 
partial change of food would leave some of them capable of re- 
production. In that way the more feeble would be weeded out, 
but the more robust would rear a race, which, by degrees, might 
be restricted in their range, and live upon different food, and 
gradually be transferred to new conditions of life and ultimately 
become capable of enduring complete and permanent domestica- 
tion. It may be that not more than one per cent. would be 
found capable of enduring the least restraint and change of food, 
but if any could be found which could retain their full vitality 
and vigor and reproductive powers, even with the limited re- 
straint and change of condition suggested, the experiment might 
not prove a total failure. At any rate, I think there is little 
hope of their permanent domestication, by suddenly transferring 
them to the east of the Mississippi River, where they never 
roamed wild. We may keep them for a short time, but they 
will not prosper, and will soon sicken and die. We may have 
little hope that any individual will undertake this project; but 
may we not anticipate that the laudable enterprise which our 
government, especially of late years, has shown in the promotion 
of scientific researches, which has produced such rich results, and 
from which abundant practical benefits may be surely antici- 
