The mind of primitive man : $b A course of lectures delivered before the Lowell Institute, Boston, Mass., and the National University of Mexico, 1910-1911Boas, Franz
Science
The mind of primitive man : $b A course of lectures delivered before the Lowell Institute, Boston, Mass., and the National University of Mexico, 1910-1911
Boas, Franz
Ethnopsychology; Race
The muscular exertions of herbivorous animals, so far as they are fed on
pastures, are not so materially changed. The grazing habits of cattle
and sheep in domestication are about the same as the grazing habits of
wild animals of the same class; but the rapid movements and the
watchfulness required for protecting the herd against carnivorous
animals have completely disappeared. Stable-fed animals live under
highly artificial conditions, and material changes may occur in them.
I think the changes due to these causes may be observed in the oldest
types of domesticated animals, such as are found in the neolithic
villages of Europe, in which native European species appear in
domesticated form (Keller). They may also be observed in the dogs of the
various continents, which differ markedly from the wild species from
which they are derived. Even the Eskimo dog, which is a descendant of
the gray wolf and still interbreeds with the gray wolf, differs in
bodily form from the wild animal (Beckmann). Modifications may also be
observed in newly domesticated animals, like the Chukchee reindeer,
which differs in type from the wild reindeer of the same area (Bogoras).
I think it very unlikely, judging from our knowledge of the methods of
domestication of tribes like the Eskimo and Chukchee, that any material
amount of selection has contributed to the modifications of form which
are found in these races of primitive domesticated animals. Their
uniformity is still fairly well marked, although they have assumed types
different from the wild species.
A more marked differentiation of domesticated forms does not seem to
occur until man begins to select and to isolate, more or less
consciously, particular breeds. Opportunity for such isolation has been
the greater, the older the domestication of any particular species. We
find, therefore, that the number of distinct breeds have come to be
greatest in those animals which have been under domestication for the
longest periods.
The number of varieties of domesticated species has also been increased
by unintentional or intentional crossing of different species, from
which are derived many breeds whose ancestry it is often so difficult to
unravel.
It appears, therefore, that there are three distinct causes which bring
about the development of different types in domesticated animals: first,
the influence of change of nutrition and mode of life; secondly,
conscious selection; and, thirdly, crossing.
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