Royal Physical Society. 355 



Another most important point is, that the North Ameri- 

 can species has never been domesticated ; but this in- 

 volves a question much too long and too important to be 

 fully discussed in the present communication. My own 

 view of it is, that those social animals which are capable 

 of being thoroughly domesticated are invariably found do- 

 mesticated, and that the fact of an animal not being do- 

 mesticated is proof that it is not domesticable. It may be 

 said that it is the fault of the Esquimaux that the North 

 American species are not domesticated, that they are a less 

 intelligent race than the Laplanders, or that they have less 

 aptitude for domesticating animals. But this is not the 

 case. They have domesticated their Esquimaux dogs ; and 

 that they have tried to domesticate the rein-deer, and failed, 

 is, I think, to be inferred from the following remark of 

 Hearne : — " The moose is the easiest to tame and domes- 

 ticate of any of the deer kind ;" implying that the attempt 

 had been made upon them all ; and as we know from other 

 sources, that the moose and other deer have been tamed, 

 but never domesticated, the inference from this remark of 

 Hearne's is, that if the North American species had been do- 

 mesticable, they would have been domesticated by them. Mr 

 Hutchins, indeed, speaking of the woodland caribou, says that 

 several of the fawns had been brought up at the factories, and 

 had become as tame as pet lambs; so have antelopes and deer 

 of all kinds. But we must bear in mind that taming and do- 

 mestication are two widely different things — a lion can be tamed, 

 but not domesticated. Our common bull is domesticated, but 

 often not tamed. The taming of a wild animal must thus not be 

 confounded with the domestication of a social animal, and does 

 not bear upon the point in question. Indeed, I firmly believe 

 that this is not a matter which is left by nature to chance. 

 How it is managed I do not pretend to say — possibly by an 

 imperious instinctive desire impressed on the animal, crav- 

 ing that it should be domesticated, and compelling it to 

 make the first advances ; but whatever be the mode, I enter- 

 tain no doubt that the securing the object has been carefully 

 attended to by nature from the first ; and where an animal 

 is domesticable, there is as little chance of its being found 



