220 WILD TRAITS IN TAME ANIMALS. 



would be decidedly immoral for him to abstain 

 from doing so. As we have seen, there were 

 frequent occasions when the wild pig which 

 wished to survive during a time of scarcity was 

 bound by every law of nature to "gather gear 

 with every wile " that his porcine intellect could 

 suggest. Survival was to him the great aim 

 of existence ; and to neglect any means which 

 might contribute to preserving his precious life 

 would have been therefore grossly sinful, ac- 

 cording to piggish canons. 



Many of the pristine bestial virtues which we 

 have been discussing have an unhappy way of 

 changing into vices when their possessors be- 

 come subject to man. Instances of these are 

 seen in the shying and bucking of the horse, 

 and in the pugnacity of the adolescent bull. 

 But in this particular case the corrupting in- 

 fluence of civilisation is not seen. If any dis- 

 tortion of primitive porcine morals has taken 

 place, it seems to have been cancelled by a 

 lucky turn of circumstances. When farmers 

 are anxious that their hogs should fatten rapidly 

 they are careful to put several together in a 

 sty. Now the gross appetites and inordinate 

 desires of his wild and wanton past become 



