46 
FIRST CLASS OF THE VERTEBRATED ANIMALS. 
selves, have reverted to their original state of wildness. On the other hand, no soli- 
tary species, however easily it may be tamed, has ever given rise to domestic races. 
Whenever we succeed by kindness to attach an animal, naturally sociable, to our 
persons, we merely induce it to transfer, for our own ailvantage, that allegiance which 
it would naturally have paid to other animals of its own species. The habit of living 
with us becomes to it a necessary of life; and the Sheep, which has been brought up 
by our care, follows its keeper just as it would have followed the flock in which it was 
born. Our superior intelligence soon destroys all equality between ourselves and 
these animals; our Will guides them in the same manner as the strongest Stallion of 
the herd would have become the chief, and be followed by all tlic weaker individuals 
of which his herd is composed. The submission with which animals obey us is not 
greater than what they would have yielded to their natural leader in the field. It is 
true that our power is greater than his, because our means of persuasion are more 
numerous, and we are able to supjjress the greater mrniber of those wants which, in 
the wild state, would have estranged them from their leader. It may he said that 
the Hack-Horse which has passed from hand to hand, and been owned by numerous 
masters, so that all its natural attachments are weakened, if not altogether effaced, 
appears to have the same d^rec of docility to every person, and to be in a manner 
obedient to the entire human race; and we must admit tliat this case has no corres- 
ponding situation in the wild herd. But this objection will have no weight when we 
consider, that when an animal, whether isolated or in a herd, has had only one master, 
it is to him alone that he yields obedience and pays his allegiance. Every other per* 
son is disowned or even treated as an enemy, just as a strange animal or the member 
of another society would be in a wild herd. The Elephant allows himself to he guided 
solely by the Mobout whom he has adopted. Even the Dog, when brought up in 
solitude with his master, is fierce to all other IMen ; and every one is aware of the 
danger of intruding among a herd of Cows, in pastures which are but little frequented, 
without being accompanied by the Herdsman. 
Thus, every animal which acknowledges Man as the chief of his herd is domesti- 
cated. The converse is equally true, as Man could not enter into such a society 
without immediately becoming the chief. 
From these observations it will readily appear, that in domesticating the inferior 
animals, Man has only become a member of that society which these animals form 
among themselves, and the authority he has acquired rests solely upon the superiority 
of his intelligence. 
GENERAL REVIEW OF THE MAMMALIA CONTINUED. 
Mammalia can he accurately studied only in Captivity — Popular errors from con- 
sidering Mammalia when in the Wild State — Importance of Menageries or 
Zoological Gardens — Several Species of Mammalia now wild are capable of 
being domesticated. 
It is commonly, but erroneously supposed, that the character of the Mammalia can 
only be studied when those animals are at liberty in their native haunts, and that in 
a state of confinement, we can learn little of their real nature. Pining under the 
restraints of confinement, they arc supposed to offer for our observation nothing but 
a series of artificial actions, totally unfit to convey those accurate notions which wo 
should acquire upon seeing them at liberty. According to Buffon, the confinements 
of slavery are opposite to (hat state of Nature best fitted to exercise and develop all 
their faculties. “ L’aniraal sauvage,” he observes, “ n’obeissant qua la Nature, ne 
connait d’autres lois que celles du besoiu ct de la liberte.” — (Tom. iv. p, 169.) 
This popular error, as to the method of studying the characters of animals, has 
been repeated on the authority of Buffon by most subsequent writers, and tends very 
materially to retard the progress of scientific zoology. Its source may ho traced, 
partly in the prevailing notion that domestication is a state of slavery, an error which 
we have already exposed, and partly in those visionary views of a pristine state of 
native innocence and simplicity in which Man is placed by the iraaginatious of our 
poets. From a natural association of ideas, these views are transferred to those ani- 
mals which most resemble him. Their mistake upon this important point might have 
been avoided, if Naturalists had considered that when an animal is at large, it by 
no means enjoys that fancied independence which is usually connected with ovir ideas 
of a state of Nature. Its natural character is as liable to be modified by the irresist- 
ible pressure of those circumstances iu which it is placed, as it would have been in 
the iron cage or paddock of its keeper. A wild animal prowling about with unresisted 
sovereignty in the midst of forests and uninhabited deserts, is very different from the 
same animal living at large in a thickly peopled country. Its character further 
changes with the plenty or searcit.y of its food — the sudden or gradual variations of 
temperature — tbo numbers or vicinity of its own species — the strength and courage 
of its rivals, and a thousand other circumstances. The same animal when mada 
captive is still further modified ; it will scarcely bo recognized if we succeed in taming 
it, and still less so if it become susceptible of a true domestication. But whatever 
modifications the animal may undergo, it always exhibits certain natural instincts and 
dispositions which are peculiarly its own. Its condition may be altered, but the 
original Nature remains the same under all circumstances. If new influential causes 
come into operation, they produce corresponding effects, but these are always relative 
to the faculties of the animal presenting them. Hence wo consider these successive 
modifications which it undergoes, however numerous or varied, merely as the means 
of adaptation employed by Nature for bringing it into harmonious correspondence 
with the several changes of situation ; and we are thus enabled to deduce its real 
Nature from a proper comparison of the phenomena it presents with the conditions 
under which they arose. 
That this is the only method of ascertaining the characters of Mammalia with ac- 
curacy, may be farther seen upon considering fully the situation of an animal in the 
wildest state of independence which can be imagined. us take a Ruminating 
animal for example, whose wants are more easily satisfied than those of a carnivorous 
quadruped, and place him in the middle of the rich savannahs of South America, in 
the company of animals which are less able perhaps than those of any other country 
to disturb his repose. This surely would appeal* at first sight a situation the most 
favorable for the development of his natural propensitios. 
Ab long as all the wants of the Ruminant arc satisfied, he remains at rest on the 
soft couch, which accident or his own choice has assigned to him. He sleeps sound 
in the consciousness of security, and when Hunger urges him to action, he finds his 
food spread out before him. If it be Thirst that troubles him, tlio neighbouring 
brook suffices to quench it. Thus his life passes on with a perfect sameness, alike 
uniutcrcsting to the philosophical observer, until the rutting season arrives. Then 
urged onwards hy a blind fury, he seeks the female. Bellowing in the ardour of his 
pursuit, he follows her traces, kills her if she resist and cannot fly, and either remains 
the conqueror, or becomes the victim of those rivals whom he encounters on the 
road. If successful, he is enfeebled by the violence of his passions, his ardour cools, 
and he returns to his retreat in search of a repose, which to him has now become 
necessary. There he remains follow iug the same round of animal existence, until the 
anniversary of the rutting season again urges him on in bis temporary career of 
madness. 
If we now consider the life of a Carnassicr in the wild state, there Is but little to 
add to the uniform picture which we have here atteroptad to represent. Instead of 
pasturing in the savannah, this animal springs upon his prey in the jungle, or else 
pursues it in the desert. He is tims compelled to make use of other qualities beyond 
those which a mere vegetable diet would have required. Sleep is perhaps equally 
necessary to him, and probably as long in its duration os that of the Ruminant. All 
tli© difference we find between them is, that the nature of the food with the Carnassier 
demands the exercise of a greater degree of cunning, sagacity, and strength, more 
caution in ensuring his own individual safety, or, if a female, also that of her youthful 
progeny. 
Now', we ask is there any thing in the course of life' followed by those animals, 
which cannot be learnt equally well when they are in a state of captirity ? 
If we succeed in taking both the Ruminant and Carnassier alive, and transport 
them into some Zoological Garden, we no longer find their Nature stupifiedwith that 
dull inactivity which has hero been exposed. We can now place them in situations 
much more compbeated than any they could have experienced in the wild state. We 
can vary these situations, wc can multiply their wants, or increase the dangers to 
which they are exposed. It is then that wc observe their natural dispositions deve- 
loping themselves, that we find new propensities arise, new resources expand, and an 
entirely different view of their Nature arises gradually before us. Then wc begin 
to perceive that the state in which animals are placed by the hand of Nature on the 
earth, is not the most favorable for the development of their faculties. That con- 
stant equilibrium of forces which prevails among all animal societies, gives to the 
most powerful a preponderating infiuence over the weaker, which never allows the 
latter liberty to act. It is only when the industry of Man intervenos, that animals 
acquire the power of developing their faculties. When the overpowering forces, to 
which they arc subject in the wild state, are restrained, or diminished in their 
action, we are able to discover iho natural instincts and propensities of the animal, 
and arrive at definite as well as varied results. 
The older Naturalists have fallen into many important errors from considering ani- 
mals only in the wild state, and the characters which they have given to most Mam- 
malia are in consequence imperfect, and in many instances altogether erroneous. 
The illustrious Buffon, to whom wc owe so many glowing descriptions of their cha- 
racters, adorning with the charms of his eloquence subjects hitherto confined only 
to the severer studies of the learned, gives many striking instances of tlicse mistakes, 
which, of course, have been repeated after him by most popular compilers. 
“ The Lion,” he tells us, “ unites with a high degree of fierceness, courage, and 
strength, the more admirable qualities of nobleness, clemency, and magnanimity. 
Often he forgets that he is the sovereign, that is, the strongest of all animals — and 
walking wdth a gentle step, he does not deign to attack Man except when provoked 
to the combat. He neither quickens his stqi nor flies, and never pursues the inferior 
animols except when urged by hunger.” Again, on referring to his description of 
the Tiger, we find the same eminent Naturalist observing, “ That the Tiger presents 
a compound of meanness and ferocity; he is cruel without justice, that is, without 
necessity. He seems always tliirsty for blood, although his hunger may he satisfied 
with flesh. His fury knows no other intermission than the time spent in ambush for his 
prev. He seizes and devours a second prey with the same fury, which seems to have 
been only exercised, and not glutted, in the blood of the first,” 
These differences which Buffon describes, probably on the authority of travellers, 
could only have arisen from the different circumstances under which these animals 
had lived. It is one of the facts which the institution of properly -regulated Zoolo- 
gical Gardens or Menageries has disclosed, that the Lion and the Tiger have very 
nearly the same nutural dispositions, Mlicn placed In the same circumstances, they 
constantly present the same phenomena. The one is tamed with the same facility as 
the other; they have the same attachment to their keeper, they make the same 
acknowledgments for kindness received, and their hatriMl or passion is excited by the 
same causes. Their sports and gambols bear the same resemblance as their fears 
and desires. They both seize their prey with the same eagerness, and defend it with 
the same fury. In a word, if wo abstract the differences of their form, they seem to 
be absolutely tbe same animal, so close do Iheir characters correspond in every 
respect. 
Again, there Is the Hyaina. Every cne has heard of “ the untamoable 
that fierce beast which,” according to the Showman, “ was never tamed since the 
memory of Man.” Its name has been long considered as the emblem of the most 
determined ferocity and cruelty. Buffon, and the most eminent Naturalists, lend their 
names as authorities for the assertion. Yet when wo come to submit the Hymna to 
the experiments of tbe MenagerUs its character yields to the influence of science, 
like the most untractable earth before the galv.inic pile of the chemist. We tlien 
find that the Jlyana is a most tameable animal. ^\'hen treated with kindness, it 
