Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1851-12-24
CHANGES IN ANIMALS.

The tendency Of organized life to put on
new characters when subjected to new in
fluences, is mos! happily set forthin the fol-
lowing extract from the last number of the
Methodist Quarterly Review. The law here
alluded to has an important bearing upon
the question of Unity of the Human Race.
If the varieties among men can be account
ed for by the law of change now in action,
the arguments against the commonly recelv-
ed and Scriptural doctrine on this subject,
are deprived of nearly all their force
"The Spaniards, when they discovered
this country, found none Of the domestic
animals existing here which were used in
Europe. They were accordingly introduce
ed and, escaping and straying from their
owners, they have run wild in our vast for
ests for several centuries. The result has
been the obliteration of the characteristics
of the domesticated animals, and reap
pearance of some of the typal marks of the
wild state, and generation of new and
striking characteristics in accommodation to
these new circumstances.
"The wild hog of our forests bears strik-
ing likeness 10 the wild boar Of the old world.
The hog of the high mountains of Paramos
resembles the wild boar of France. Instead
of being covered with bristles, however, as
the domestic breed from which he sprang,
he has thick fur, often crisp, and some
times an undercoat of wool. Instead of be-
ing generally white or spotted, they are u
niformly black, except in some warmer re-
gions, where they are red, like the young
pecari. The anatomical structure has chang
ed adapting itself to the new habits of the
animal, in an elongation of the snout, "a vaul-
ting OF the forehead, lengthing of the hind
legs, and, in the case of those left on the
island of Cubugua, monstrous elongation
of the toes to half span.
"The oxhas undergone the same chang
es. In some of the provinces of South
America, variety has been produced, call
ed pelones,' having very rare and fine
fur. In other provinces variety is pro-
duced with an entirely naked skin, like the
dog of Mexico or of Guinea. In Columbia,
owing to the immense size OF farms, and
other causes, the practice of milking was
laid aside, and the result has been that the
secretion of milkin the cows is like the
same function in other animals Of class,
only an occasional phenomenon, and con-
fined strictly to the period of sucking
tbe Calf. AS soon as the calf is removed,
the milk ceases to flow, as in the case OF
other animals.
"These same changes have taken place
in other animals. The wild dog of the Pam.
pas never barks as the domestic animal does,
but howls like the wolf. The wild cat has
none of the musical accomplishments Of her
civilized sisterhood, * gives none of those de-
lectable concerts of caterwauling that SO Of
ten make night hideous, and call down from
irritable listeners, curses if not something
heavier, on the whole feline race. The wild
horse of the higher plains of South America
becomes covered with long, shaggy fur,
and is of uniform chestnut color. The sheep
of the Central Cordilleras, if not shorn, pro-
duces thick, matted, woolly fleece, which
gradually breaks off in shaggy tufts, and
leaves underneath short, fine hair, shin
ing and smooth, like that Of the goat, and
the wool never re-appears. The goat, has
lost her large teats, and produces two Or
three kids annually. The same changes have
been produced in geese and gillinaceous
fowls. A variety has sprung up called rump.
less fowls, which want from one to six of
the caudal vertebrn.
"The same varieties have spiung up in
otherp parts ofthe world. The fat-tailed sheep
Of Tartary loses its posterior mass of fat,
when removed, to the Steppes of Siberia,
whose scant and bitter herbage is less ia
vorable to the secretion of adipose matter.
The African sheep has become large like
a goat, and exchanged its wool for hair
The Wallachian sheep has put on large per-
pendicular spiral horns, in like manner be-
come clothed with hair. Some, also have
four and even six horns. The wild horses
of Eastern Siberia have the same anatomi-
cal differences from the tame ones that we
notice in the case of the swine; and culture,
climate and other causes, have produced
the widest varieties--from the little shag-
gy pony of the Shetlands, that scrambles
up The high crags like goat, to the gigan-
tic steed of Flanders, or the Conestoga OF
Pennsylvania which will sometimes drag a