298 WILD TRAITS IN TAME ANIMALS. 



In the first place, it was my hope that the 

 inferences to be drawn from such everyday facts 

 would show how remarkably Darwinism illumi- 

 nates and vivifies matters which are regarded by 

 many people as dull, commonplace, and trivial. 

 To the evolutionist nothingr is common or un- 

 clean, because every fact about a living creature 

 has its bearing upon those mysterious laws of life 

 which all philosophers have striven to unravel. 

 Secondly, it has been my wish to emphasise one 

 most important truth put forward in the intro- 

 ductory chapter — viz., that to the modern student 

 of natural history common and obvious things are 

 more valuable, and often far more fraught with 

 interest and mystery, than things generally 

 deemed wonderful and rare. Next, by pointing 

 out how much may be learned from familiar traits 

 in a few farmyard animals, I have sought to show, 

 indirectly, what a vast field for research has been 

 opened up to the modern naturalist by the new 

 doctrine ; and lastly, I have tried to demonstrate 

 in a practical manner — although, I fear, very im- 

 perfectly — the way in which the methods and 

 materials now placed within our reach may often 

 be utilised in reconstructing the vanished past. 



Any one who has seen the changes which have 



