Part 16

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.