Inquiries into human faculty and its developmentGalton, Francis
Science
Inquiries into human faculty and its development
Galton, Francis
Ability; Eugenics
It is interesting to note the causes that conduce to a decided
attachment of certain animals to man, or between one kind of animal
and another. It is notorious that attachments and aversions exist in
nature. Swallows, rooks, and storks frequent dwelling houses;
ostriches and zebras herd together; so do bisons and elks. On the
other hand, deer and sheep, which are both gregarious, and both eat
the same food and graze within the same enclosure, avoid one another.
The spotted Danish dog, the Spitz dog, and the cat, have all a
strong attachment to horses, and horses seem pleased with their
company; but dogs and cats are proverbially discordant. I presume
that two species of animals do not consider one another companionable,
or clubable, unless their behaviour and their persons are
reciprocally agreeable. A phlegmatic animal would be exceedingly
disquieted by the close companionship of an excitable one. The
movements of one beast may have a character that is unpleasing to
the eyes of another; his cries may sound discordant; his smell may
be repulsive. Two herds of animals would hardly intermingle, unless
their respective languages of action and of voice were mutually
intelligible. The animal which above all others is a companion to
man is the dog, and we observe how readily their proceedings are
intelligible to each other. Every whine or bark of the dog, each of
his fawning, savage, or timorous movements is the exact counterpart
of what would have been the man's behaviour, had he felt similar
emotions. As the man understands the thoughts of the dog, so the dog
understands the thoughts of the man, by attending to his natural
voice, his countenance, and his actions. A man irritates a dog by an
ordinary laugh, he frightens him by an angry look, or he calms him
by a kindly bearing; but he has less spontaneous hold over an ox or a
sheep. He must study their ways and tutor his behaviour before he
can either understand the feelings of those animals or make his own
intelligible to them. He has no natural power at all over many other
creatures. Who, for instance, ever succeeded in frowning away a
mosquito, or in pacifying an angry wasp by a smile?
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