It is from society that man derives his power: from that he perfects his reason, exercises his genius, and unites his strength. Previous to the union of society man was perhaps the most savage, and the least formidable of all creatures; naked, defenceless and without shelter, the earth to him was only a vast desert peopled with monsters, of which he frequently became the prey; and even long after, history informs us, that the first heroes were only the destroyers of wild beasts.
Engraved for Barr’s Buffon
Fig. 18 Horse
Fig. 19 Ass
But when the human race multiplied, and spread over the earth, and when, by the aid of the arts and society, man was able to conquer the universe, he by degrees lessened the number of ferocious beasts, he purged the earth of those gigantic animals of which we sometimes still find the enormous bones; he destroyed, or reduced to a small number, every hurtful and voracious species; he opposed one animal to another, and conquered some by fraud, others by force; and attacking them by every rational method he arrived at the means of safety, and has established an empire which is only bounded by inaccessible solitudes, burning sands, frozen mountains, and obscure caverns, which now serve as retreats for the small number of species of ferocious animals that remains.