reservations to have the control of the establishments in the hands of
some authorities which were of an enduring nature. In our American
experience it has become certain that such trusts cannot be safely
reposed in the state or national governments, or in the hands of
trustees chosen for the particular function. The only authorities which
commend themselves for the execution of such a purpose are those of our
universities. In these institutions we find boards which are chosen for
the attainment of intellectual ends; in certain cases the choice is made
by the vote of an intelligent body of alumni, or in other ways guarded
by that body, so that the chance of lapse in the quality of the contract
is reduced to a minimum. Several instances could be given showing that
such trusts, even when they do not directly pertain to the teaching work
of these institutions, have been long and faithfully maintained. We may
therefore look upon our universities as the natural repositories of
confidences which pertain to the continuous intellectual work of man.
There is no other kind of association where interests of the sort which
would have to be cared for in the reservations of the wilderness are so
likely to receive continuous attention. In these homes of learning,
while business considerations enter, personal greed is naturally absent.
The method which may be chosen for the control of wilderness
reservations, though a problem of much importance, is of course
secondary to the matter of their establishment. This work should at once
command the attention of those persons who are of the foresightful class
who see beyond the interests of the day, and take account of the needs
of the generations to come. Such men will do well to begin the work by
organizing a society which shall endeavor to arouse public attention to
the destructive effects of man's occupation of the earth by his
civilizations. The people need to be taught the true meaning of the
indigenous life in relation to the problems of the origin and destiny
of our own and other life, to the future exercise of the domesticating
art and to the most refined gratifications.
It may be noted that, beginning with the apparently simple and
eminently popular questions as to the origin and economic history of
the animals which have been subjugated by man, we have been naturally
led to the consideration of much larger problems, those relating to the
place of man in the order of nature, and his duty by the life of which
he is an integral part. There can be no question that the sense of this
duty which mastery of the earth gives or should afford is to be one of
the moral gifts of modern learning. So long as men considered
themselves to be accidents on the earth, imposed upon it by the will of
a Supreme Being, but in nowise related in origin and history to the
creatures amid which they dwelt, it was natural that they should
exercise a careless and despotic power over their subjects. Now that it
has been made perfectly clear that we have come forth from the maze of
the lower life, that all these tenants of the wilderness are sharers in
the order which has brought us to our estate, and that each one of
them, plant and animal alike, is the record of the impulses which lead
beings upward, we can no longer keep the old careless attitude. We are
compelled to deal with the organic hosts as we deal with the creatures
of our folds and fields. We have to look upon them all as a member of
the great household of man, made such by the intellectual conquest of
the world to which he has attained. We may trust the sense of this
large duty to extend abroad under the influences which have developed
it in the minds of a few men, or we may hasten its development by a
propaganda such as is carried on by the societies for the prevention of
cruelty to animals. If this latter course is taken the teaching should
be on a higher plane than that which we have yet had from those
generally admirable associations. Bad as is the ill treatment of
domesticated animals, the suppression of that evil will not bring us
materially nearer the true attitude that we need to assume in face of
our responsibilities to the natural world. We need to see the greatness
of the responsibility which has been imposed upon us by the action of
the guiding power that has made us lords of the earth.
INDEX
Animals, rights of, 204.
separation of city folk from, 223.
educability of, 227.
Antelopes, 247.
Aryan race, relation to domestication, 152, 220.
relation to rights of animals, 208.
Ass, 93.
Bears, possible domestication of, 243.
Beasts of burden, 103.
Beaver, 246.
habits of, 246.
domestication of, 247.
Bee (honey), 191.
in North America, 195.
Big Bone Lick, Ky., 129.
Birds, 152.
free-flying species of, 182.
tree species of, 182.
vocal powers of, 183.
aesthetic nature of, 187.
conditions of domestication of, 233.
future domestication of, 235.
Bison, 106.
domestication of, 241.
Buffaloes, 105.
African, 106.
Bulls, 105.
Camels, origin of, 119.
limited nature of, 120.
lessening value of, 124.
Cattle (horned), value of, 110.
variations of, 113.
Cats, origin of domesticated forms of, 51.
their love of well-known places, 51.
compared with dogs, 52.
their return to wild state, 55.
no large species domesticated, 56.
Cochineal, 201.
Dogs, origin of, 11.
fossil species of, 15.
savage selection of, 17.
civilized conditions of, 18.
shepherd breed of, etc., 19.
hunting varieties of, 25.
intellectual qualities of, 29.
evils of fancy breeding, 31.
lack of constructive faculty, 40.
modes of expression, 44.
effect on human sympathy, 48.
possible new varieties of, 50.
Domestication, relation to culture, 2.
relation to sympathies, 4.
slow institution of, 7.
mainly by Aryan people, 152.
problem of, 218.
hap-hazard nature of, 225.
conditions of, 229.
Domesticability, on what depending, 107.
Donkey, 93.
limited use of, 94.
Elephants, native freedom of, 107.
origin of, 127.
ancient species of, 128.
present limitation of, 130.
use in war, 130.
domesticability of, 131.
intelligence of, 132.
possible improvement of, 137.
future care of species required for preservation, 249.
Falconry, 184.
Fishes, limits of domestication, 232.
Fowls (barnyard), 153.
mental qualities of, 154.
voices of, 155.
domesticability of, 156.
game variety of, 159.
Giraffe, 249.
Goats, 115.
limited relation to man, 116.
little variation of, 117.
limited intelligence of, 118.
Guinea hen, 164.
Hawking, 184.
Horse, economic value to man, 57.
origin of, 58.
hoof of, 61.
field in which developed, 65.
domestication of, 66.
use in war, 67.
effect of mounted men on early peoples, 69.
future use in military campaigns, 70.
value in agriculture, 74.
mental qualities of, 75.
ready variations of, 78.
Norman variety of, 82.
geographic varieties of, 83.
Arabian variety of, 85.
Indian ponies, 86.
care of, 87.
shoeing of, 91.
influence on man, 100.
Hybrids, utility of, 96.
Insects, 190.
limited value to man, 190.
Kangaroo, 240.
Mammalia, value of class as source of domesticable animals, 149.
future domestication of, 238.
Mammals (tertiary), 150.
Mammoth, 129.
Man, his place in nature, 1.
sudden appearance of, 6.
as a destroyer, 229.
Martha's Vineyard prairie chicken, 257.
Milk, value of, as food, 110.
Monkeys, little use to man, 250.
value for inquiry, 250.
Mule, 95.
limitations in use of, 95.
only hybrid serviceable to man, 96.
mental qualities of, 98.
Musk ox, 241.
Organic hosts, 253.
Ostrich, 168.
possible improvement of, 168.
Pack animals, 104.
Parks, national, etc., 256.
Pea-fowl, 162.
habits of, 163.
intelligence of, 164.
Pets, influence of, 223.
Pig, origin of, 140.
value of flesh, 140.
progressive domestication of, 142.
intelligence of, 143, 148.
variations in habits of, 147.
Pigeons, 175.
origin of, 176.
breeds of, 177.
mental qualities of, 180.
Plants, danger of extinction of species of, 250.
Refuge stations. (See Reservations.)
Reservations (of wilderness), 256.
American, 256.
foreign, 259.
cost of, 261.
Rhinoceros, 249.
Rights of animals, 204.
origin of, 205.
Savages, relation of, to animals, 219.
Seals, possible domestication of, 243.
Sheep, 115.
value of wool, 115.
variations of, 116.
mental qualities of, 118.
Silkworm, 197.
Turkey, origin of, 165.
variations of, 166.
mental qualities of, 167.
Vivisection, 211.
Water-birds, 169.
flight of, 169.
sympathetic quality, 171.
Wildernesses, destruction of, 224.
reservations of, 256.
Wool-bearing animals, 114.
Transcriber's Notes:
Inconsistencies in hyphenation of words retained. (barn-yard, barnyard,
hap-hazard, haphazard, help-meet, helpmeet, on-going, ongoing,
pre-human, prehuman)
Inconsistencies in spelling of zoological names retained. (aepyornis,
Epiornis)
List of illustrations and page 158 caption, among the of four breeds of
domestic fowl named, the original spelling of the breed "Houdin" is
retained. Probably refers to the breed now more commonly known as
"Houdan".
Page 56, unusual spelling of "chetah" retained. Probably refers to
"cheetah". (A large Asiatic cat known as the chetah is somewhat)
Page 87, "similiar" changed to "similar". (reason that nothing similar)
Page 158, 160, 173 captions. The original appearance and wording is
reproduced in the html version. For the text version, more meaningful
and grammatical captions have been provided as the original captions
comprised a series of separate breed or species names used to label
the animals in the illustration.
Page 179, original text "In early time" retained, although "In early
times" is probably more grammatical. (In early time, before the
invention of)
Page 256, "cordilleran" changed to "Cordilleran". ( the Cordilleran
district of the United States)
Page 266, index entry "Ostrich, possible improvement of". Page reference
changed from 108 to 168. Page 108 has no content fitting the topic while
page 168 clearly has.
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End of Project Gutenberg's Domesticated Animals, by Nathaniel Southgate Shaler