Domesticated animals : $b Their relation to man and to his advancement in civilization — John Shaqi
Domesticated animals : $b Their relation to man and to his advancement in civilizationShaler, Nathaniel Southgate
History
Domesticated animals : $b Their relation to man and to his advancement in civilization
Shaler, Nathaniel Southgate
Domestic animals
It would be interesting to trace, if we could, what share the several
domesticated animals have had in the development of the human races; but
this task is not to be done. We can, however, discern that the Arab
without the camel and the horse would not have found the place in
history which he has filled, and that our own race could not have
attained its place save for the aid which the horned cattle, sheep, and
a host of other helpers which we have pressed into service, have
afforded. These economic gains have to be judged in mass, they cannot be
reckoned in detail. When we have made the best account of them we can,
there remains another class of influences, the value of which, though
evidently great, is yet harder to reckon; these arise from the education
which has been attained through the care of these adopted creatures.
Among savages the great need is a training in forethoughtfulness; all
primitive peoples are like children, they live in the interests of the
day; the cares of the seasons to come, or even of the morrow, are not
for them. The possession of domesticated animals certainly did much to
break up this old brutal way of life; it led to a higher sense of
responsibility to the care of the household; it brought about systematic
agriculture; it developed the art of war; it laid the foundations of
wealth and commerce, and so set men well upon their upward way.
Moreover, the use of domesticated animals of the better sort enabled the
more vigorous and care-taking races to gain the strength which led to
their advancement in power to a point where they were able to displace
the lower and feebler tribes. In other words, the system of
domestication has provided a method by which those peoples who were
fitted to develop the qualities which make for civilization could
advance; it has provided the opportunity for selection.
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