Buffon's Natural History. Volume 09 (of 10) / Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c

by comte de Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon

The elephant is the only quadruped on which a domestic state has never had any influence, because in that state it will not propagate, and consequently cannot transmit to its species those defects which its servile condition might occasion. The varieties in the elephant are only slight, and almost individual: its natural colour is black; some of them, however, are red, and others white, but those are very few in number. The size of the elephant also varies, according to the longitude rather than the latitude of the climate. Under the torrid zone, where it is, as we may say, shut up, and under the same line, in the eastern parts of Africa, it attains fifteen feet in height; whereas in the western parts of the same country it only arrives to the height of ten or eleven feet, which proves, that though great heat is necessary to the full expansion of its body, yet excessive heat reduces it to less dimensions. The rhinoceros seems to be of a more uniform and less variable size, and only differs in its own breed by that singular character which distinguishes it from every other animal, namely, the great horn on its nose. This horn is single in the Asiatic rhinoceros, and double in the African.

I shall not speak here of the varieties which are found in every species of carnivorous animals, as they are extremely slight; because all animals which feed on flesh are the least dependent on man; and besides, this nutriment being already prepared by Nature, they receive scarcely any of the qualities of the soil they inhabit; besides, being endowed with strength and weapons, they have the power of chusing their own climate: consequently the three causes of change, alteration, and degeneration, of which we have spoken, can have but very slight and trivial effect on them.

After this glance at the variations peculiar to each species, a more important consideration presents itself, that of the change of the species themselves; that ancient and immemorial degeneration made in each family, or in every genus, under which we may comprehend the proximating species. Among all terrestrial animals there are only a few detached species, which, like the human, at once compose both species and genus. The elephant, the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, and the giraffe, form genera, or simple species, which propagate only in a direct line, and have no collateral branches; every other appears to form families, in which one principal trunk is generally to be recognized, and whence issues several different branches, so much the more or less numerous as the individuals in each species are barren or prolific.

Under this point of view, the horse, the zebra, and the ass, are all of the same family. If the horse is the source, or principal trunk, the zebra and the ass will be collateral branches. The number of their resemblances being infinitely greater than that of their differences, we may look on them as constituting only one genus, the principal characters of which are clearly announced, and common to all three. They are the only animals which have solid hoofs without any appearance of toes or nails. Though they form three very distinct species they are not absolutely separated, since the male-ass will produce with the mare, and the horse with the she-ass; and it is probable that if we were to tame the zebra, and mollify his savage nature, it would likewise produce with the horse and the ass.

This mule, therefore, which has hitherto been regarded as a vitiated production, as a monster composed of two different natures, and consequently incapable of reproduction, is not so base as might be imagined from the above prejudice, since it is not really unprolific, and its sterility depends on certain external and peculiar circumstances. It is well known that mules produce in warm countries, and we have some examples of their producing even in our temperate climates. But we do not know whether this generation ever proceeded from the union of a male with a female mule, or whether the production were not effected by the junction of a male with a mare, or a male-ass with a mule. There are two kinds of males, the first is the great mule, which proceeds from the junction of a male-ass with a mare, and the small mule, proceeding from the horse and the she-ass, which we shall call bardeau, to distinguish it from the other. The ancients were acquainted with both, and distinguished them by two different names; they called the first mulus, and the second hinnus. They assert that the mulus produced with the mare, an animal called ginnus[AH], or hinnus; that the she-mule conceived very readily, but seldom brought the fœtus to perfection: and that, though they have had frequent examples of mules bringing forth, yet such productions were looked on as prodigies. But what is a prodigy of nature, except an event which happens more rarely than some others? The he-mule, therefore, can engender, and the female conceive, and bring forth, in certain circumstances: hence it is only required to know what these circumstances are, and to acquire further information concerning degeneration by a mixture of species, and consequently on the unity and diversity of each genus. To succeed in these enquiries, the he-mule must be joined with a she-mule, a mare, and a she-ass; the same should be done with the bardeau, and then the result of these six copulations ought to be carefully marked. The females of the ass, mule, and bardeau, should also be paired with a horse.

[AH] The word ginnus is used by Aristotle in two senses: the first to denote in general an imperfect animal, an abortion, a dwarf animal, proceeding sometimes from the horse and the ass; and the second to signify the particular produce of the mule and the mare.

These experiments, however simple, have never yet been tried with a view to explain the nature of generation. I regret that it has not been in my power to try them, as I am persuaded consequences would result from them, which at present we only conjecture, and speak of as presumptions. I imagine, for example, that of all the above copulations, that of the great mule with the female bardeau, (the animal produced by the horse and ass) and that of the male-bardeau and she-mule might possibly not succeed: that the junction of the he and she-mule, and that of the male and female-bardeau, might sometimes be attended with success, though not often. That the he-mule would produce with the mare with greater certainty than with the she-ass, and the male-bardeau with more certainty with the she-ass than with the mare; and that the horse and he-ass might possibly produce with both the she-mules, but that the ass would be more successful than the horse. These experiments should be made in a country at least as warm as the south of France; and the age of the mules should be seven, the horses five, and the asses four years, because those different periods are necessary before those three animals acquire their full vigour.

These then are the analogical reasons on which the above presumptions are founded. In the common course of nature, it is not the males but the females which constitute the unity of species. We know from the example of the sheep, which propagate alike with the ram, or the goat, that the female has much more influence than the male, on the specific qualities of the production, since the only issue from these two different males are lambs, that is, individuals which have a specific resemblance to the mother. Thus the mule resembles the mare more than she does the ass, and the bardeau more the she-ass than the horse; therefore the mule ought to produce more certainly with the mare than with the she-ass, and the bardeau still more so with the she-ass than with the mare, so the horse and he-ass might possibly produce with both the she-mules; because being females, though somewhat vitiated, each retains more specific qualities than the male-mules; but the he-ass should produce with them more certainly than the horse; because it is observed, that the he-ass possesses stronger prolific powers than the horse, even with the mare, for the first corrupts and totally destroys the generation of the latter. We may be convinced of this fact by first taking a stallion to a mare, and the next morning, or even some days after, serving her with a male-ass, and her production will always be mules, and not horses. This fact, of which every circumstance deserves attention, seems to indicate, that the ass and not the horse, is the stock, or principal root of the family, since the first predominates by its prolific powers over the latter even with its own female, especially as, if the ass is first given to the mare and the horse afterwards, the latter does not destroy the generation of the former, for even then the production is still a mule. On the other hand, the like effect does not happen when the he-ass precedes the horse, with the she-ass, for the latter never destroys the operation of the former. With respect to the copulation of mules among themselves, I have presumed it to be sterile, for we can expect nothing else from two natures already debased by generation, and which by their union cannot fail of being still more debased, than a production entirely vitiated, or absolutely none at all.

By the mixture of the mule with the mare, of the bardeau with the she-ass, and the horse and he-ass with she mules, we should obtain individuals which would ascend towards the original species; they would be only half mules, and, like their parents, would not only have power to engender with their primitive species, but perhaps have the faculty of propagating among themselves; for being but half debased, their production would not be more vitiated than the first mules; and if the union of these half mules were sterile, or their productions rare, it appears almost certain, that by bringing them a degree still nearer their original species, the individuals which would result from such a union, and which would be no more than a fourth part debased, would produce among themselves and form a new stem, which would be precisely neither that of the horse nor the ass. Now as every thing possible has been accomplished in time, and either does exist, or has existed in Nature, I am inclined to think that the prolific mule spoken of by the ancients, and which in the days of Aristotle existed in Syria, beyond Phoenicia, might be a race of these half or quarter mules, which have been produced by the commixtures here spoken of: for Aristotle expressly says, that these prolific mules perfectly resembled the barren mules. He also very clearly distinguishes them from the onagres, or wild asses, which he mentions in the same chapter: consequently we can only refer these animals to mules which were but little vitiated, and preserved their reproductive faculties. The czigithai, or prolific mule of Tartary, of which we have before spoken, may also possibly not be the onagre, or the wild ass, but only this Phœnician mule, the race of which perhaps still remains. The first traveller who is able to compare them, will confirm or destroy this conjecture. The zebra itself, which even bears a greater resemblance to the horse than the ass, might probably have the same origin; the constrained regularity of his colours, alternately disposed in black and white stripes, seems to indicate that they proceed from two different species, which in their mixture have separated as much as possible; for Nature, in none of her works, is so abrupt, or so little shaded as on the coat of the zebra, where it suddenly and alternately changes from white to black, and from black to white, without any intermediate shade throughout the whole extent of the animal’s body.