20 CHAEACTEE OF DOMESTIC VARIETIES. [Chap. I. 



know, when he first tamed an animal, whether it would 

 vary in succeeding generations, and whether it would 

 endure other climates ? Has the little variability of 

 the ass and goose, or the small power of endurance of 

 warmth by the reindeer, or of cold by the common 

 camel, prevented their domestication ? I cannot doubt 

 that if other animals and plants, equal in number to 

 our domesticated productions, and belonging to equally 

 diverse classes and countries, were taken from a state 

 of nature, and could be made to breed for an equal 

 number of generations under domestication, they would 

 on a average vary as largely as the parent species of our 

 existing domesticated productions have varied. 



In the case of most of our anciently domesticated 



animals and plants, it is not possible to come to any 



definite conclusion, whether they are descended from 



one or several wild species. The argument mainly 



relied on by those who believe in the multiple origin of 



our domestic animals is, that we find in the most 



ancient times, on the monuments of Egypt, and in the 



lake-habitations of Switzerland, much diversity in the 



breeds ; and that some of these ancient breeds closely 



resemble, or are even identical with, those still existing. 



But this only throws far backwards the history of 



civilisation, and shows that animals were domesticated 



at a much earlier period than has hitherto been supposed. 



The lake-inhabitants of Switzerland cultivated several 



kinds of wheat and barley, the pea, the poppy for oil, 



and flax; and they possessed several domesticated 



animals. They also carried on commerce with other 



nations. All this clearly shows, as Heer has remarked, 



that they had at this early age progressed considerably 



in civilisation ; and this again implies a long continued 



