From the several facts above given,—namely, firstly, that the actual
capacity of the skull in the Himalayan, Moscow, and Angora breeds, is
less than in the wild rabbit, though they are in all their dimensions
rather larger animals; secondly, that the capacity of the skull of the
large lop-eared rabbits has not been increased in nearly the same ratio
as the capacity of the skull of the smaller wild rabbits has been
decreased; and thirdly, that the capacity of the skull in these same
large lop-eared rabbits is very inferior to that of the hare, an animal
of nearly the same size,—I conclude, notwithstanding the remarkable
differences in capacity in the skulls of the small Porto Santo rabbits,
and likewise in the large lop-eared kinds, that in all
long-domesticated rabbits the brain has either by no means increased in
due proportion with the increased length of the head and increased size
of the body, or that it has actually decreased in size, relatively to
what would have occurred had these animals lived in a state of nature.
When we remember that rabbits, from having been domesticated and
closely confined during many generations, cannot have exerted their
intellect, instincts, senses, and voluntary movements, either in
escaping from various dangers or in searching for food, we may conclude
that their brains will have been feebly exercised, and consequently
have suffered in development. We thus see that the most important and
complicated organ in the whole organisation is subject to the law of
decrease in size from disuse.
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