[Sci-tech-public] Modern Times, Rural Places Seminar on Friday, April 22, 2005

[Margo Collett]

Modern Times, Rural Places:

Seminar Series at MIT



Edmund Russell

Associate Professor of Science, Technology, and Society and History
University of Virginia

"Blood, Sweat, and Tears:  Dogs as Gambling Technology in 
Nineteenth-Century Britain"


Nineteenth-century Britons loved dogs, and they loved gambling.  Unifying 
these interests led them to breed dogs suited to wagering.  The specific 
direction of dog evolution, however, depended on the class and environment 
of the gamblers.  Workers and farm laborers, without large acreage of their 
own, flocked to pits and small fields that hosted blood sports.  Dog 
fighting and animal baiting created demand for fierce, stubborn, stocky 
dogs, such as bulldogs, pit bulls, and bull terriers.  The gentry and 
aristocracy, who owned estates with large open fields, favored coursing (in 
which two greyhounds raced to kill a hare first).  In both cases, gamblers 
wagered on which dogs would win or lose.  In the mid-nineteenth century, 
middle and upper class Britons successfully lobbied to outlaw dog fighting 
and baiting on the grounds of cruelty.  Coursing, however, continued 
unabated.  This case demonstrates that factors rarely considered by 
evolutionary biologists, such as class and size of territory in one species 
(humans), can shape the evolution of other species.  And it demonstrates 
the importance of anthropogenic evolution in history.  Exciting fights and 
races depended on breeders who shaped dogs for each purpose.  Without 
directing dog evolution down different paths, the experiences of nineteenth 
century gamblers would have been quite different.



Friday, April 22, 2005

2:30 to 4:30 pm

MIT, Building E51 Room 095



Sponsored by MIT's History Faculty and the Program in Science, Technology, 
and Society
For more information or to be put on the mailing list, please contact Margo 
Collett at <mailto:mcollet at mit.edu>mcollett at mit.edu

For location visit http://whereis.mit.edu/map-jpg
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