1868 .] 
177 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
the “ Variation of Animals and Plants under 
Domestication,” a host of the most interresting, 
we might almost say startling, facts bearing on 
these points. One cannot peruse this book 
without wonder at the industry that has brought 
together so much 
widely scattered ma¬ 
terial, without being 
impressed w T ith the 
wonderful power 
that man has, often 
unconsciously, exer¬ 
cised over the brute 
creation, in modify¬ 
ing not only their 
habits, but their very 
structure, and with¬ 
out gratitude to the 
'Creator that He has | 
so formed the creat¬ 
ures over which He 
has given man do-1 
minion, that they j 
should be not only ' 
subject to his will in 
the sense of subordi¬ 
nation, but to his 
will in adapting 
themselves to his 
uses. The laws which 
seem to govern these 
■variations, the ef¬ 
fects, good and bad, 
of crossing and close 
breeding, inheri¬ 
tance, influence of • 
food, climate, etc., 
and all matters relating to the subject, are 
•discussed with a clearness and thoroughness, 
that have made the book, to us, not only in¬ 
structive but fascinating. It is a book to be 
studied, and thought over, and referred to. We 
for man, and reciprocally man has done a great 
deal for the hog—-“A fellow-feeling makes us 
wondrous kind.” Look at the portraits in figure 
1. The upper head is that of a Wild Boar— 
not altogether unlike some tame ones we have 
Fig.: 
BLACK SPANISH FOWL. 
Fig. 1.— HEADS OF WILD BOAR AND YORKSHIRE HOG. 
are tempted to give a few of Mr. Darwin’s figures, 
as illustrations of some of the remarkable in¬ 
stances of variation, and in doing so we select 
those that are within the observation of most 
of our readers. The hog has done a great deal 
seen—while the lower is from a photograph of 
“Golden Days,” of the Yorkshire breed. What 
a difference in the development of the head—a 
difference which is equally marked in the legs, 
and in the whole structure of the animal. 
When man found it inconvenient to go out and 
shoot wild pork, he began to grow it in pens. 
Man had a fondness for ham and good pork, 
and he bred from animals likely to furnish these, 
while the pig, not being obliged to seek its own 
living, had less use for snout and legs. Tims 
the two, man and pig, unconsciously, it may be, 
produced the result here shown. We not only 
get more pork from the carefully bred animals, 
but the animal gets less head. In the common 
breeds the head is in length to that of the body, 
as 1 to G, while in the highly cultivated races it 
is as 1 to 9, and even 1 to 11; and so with length 
of legs, size of hams, character of hair, skin, etc. 
Cattle, horses, sheep, dogs, and other quad¬ 
rupeds are treated in a most interesting way, 
and many curious points in their history de¬ 
veloped. Upon birds, especially upon pigeons, 
Mr. Darwin is very full. Pigeons are bred so 
largely for “ fancy,” vary so widely, and in so 
few generations, that they afford striking illustra¬ 
tions of the variation produced through the 
agency of man. The fine group of pigeons we 
gave last month shows some of the widely 
differing forms. These are, however, but few 
among the many breeds known to fanciers, and 
as unlike as they are, they are all traced back, 
with considerable certainty, to the wild pigeon 
of Europe. In a long course of breeding, these 
varieties have departed widely from the original 
type, and from one another. Not only do they 
differ in particulars that are noticeable at sight, 
but the skeleton is changed in various ways. 
Figure 2 shows the skulls of some of the 
varieties. A is the skull of the Wild Bock 
Pigeon; B, the Short-faced Tumbler; C , the 
English Carrier; and JJ, the Bagsdotten Carrier. 
A comparison of these skulls shows how much 
the domestic races have departed from the 
wild type, in shape of the bones of the head, 
length and character of the bill, and the like. 
Mr.' Darwin has much that is interesting 
to say about fowls, 
the numerqus breeds 
of which he consid¬ 
ers to have originat¬ 
ed from one wild 
species. Strange, in¬ 
deed, that a species 
should have varied 
so greatly as to give 
us the tiny Bantam 
and the enormous 
Cochin, the Black 
Spanish, (fig. 3,) with 
its immense single 
comb and white face, 
and the Hamburgh, 
(fig. 4,) with its flat, 
curiously pointed, 
and marked comb! 
It is not our pur¬ 
pose to review Mr. 
Darwin’s book, for 
our limits would not 
allow of that. We 
can only say, that no 
one has discussed 
the subjects of which 
he treats with so 
much ability. He 
has given us a store 
of facts, and the ex¬ 
planation of the 
wonderful variations in our domestic animals 
and plants that seem to him indicated by these 
facts. In the above we have omitted all refer¬ 
ence to Mr. Darwin’s facts and investigations 
with respect to plants. Some of these are 
Fig. 4. —HAMBURGH FOWL. 
Fig. 2.—SKULLS OF PIGEONS. 
from experiments of his own, developing some 
exceedingly curious facts in fertilization, and 
attended with results of great interest to the 
botanist and the general cultivator. Some may 
not agree with his views, but none can deny the 
force and fairness with which they are put. 
