an.

At first the process of domestication concerned only useful animals or
plants, those which would take a part in our industries. Rapidly,
however, these creatures have been adopted with the view to the aesthetic
satisfaction which they might afford. Quite half of the number of
species which have come under human control have been tamed mainly if
not altogether because of the charms which they possess. If we reckon
flowering plants in the category, by far the greater number of our
captives have been brought to us because of their beauty.

The work of domestication has in the main been effected by our own
Aryan race. Out of the total number of animals and plants which have
been made captives, probably more than two-thirds have been brought
into subjection by the European Aryans or by the folk whom they have
profoundly affected with their civilizing motives. The disposition to
win goods from the wilderness is in effect a fair test of those
qualities in a people which give them dominance: we may indeed
roughly measure the qualities of diverse folk by a variety of
conquests of this kind, which they have made. The reason for this
relation is plain. Success, whether it be of the individual or of the
race, depends in large measure upon forethoughtfulness, on a
disposition to study as to where profit may be had, and intelligently
to seek accessions of strength by experiments in domestication. Each
of these winnings from the wilderness represented by our domesticated
animals or plants has been painfully and laboriously gained. The men
who did the tasks were not creatures of the day, but foresightful
beyond the average of mortals.

In a large way the work of domestication represents one of the modes
of action of that sympathetic motive which more than any other has
been the basis of the highest development of mankind. Ordinary men of
the low grade are content to slay, or otherwise rudely gain what value
they find in the wild creatures. Only the higher grades of men
perceive much of the charm in the inhabitants of the wilderness, or
desire to win them to their homes. If our conquests from the wilds
were limited to the grossly profitable life alone, we might say that
interest only had determined the work of subjugation; but as soon as
men escape from their primitive state, even while in their general
motives they are still essentially barbarians, they cultivate flowers
and derive a keen pleasure from their company. They domes