VARIETIES OF MANKIND. 



1313 



pressed any doubt of the specific unity of all 

 the domesticated breeds, or of their identity 

 of origin with the so called " wild horses " of 

 Northern Asia : which are probably descended 

 from domesticated progenitors. Yet their 

 diversities in stature, conformation, c. are 

 very considerable. Thus the ordinary height 

 of the Shetland pony is from eight to ten 

 hands ; and individuals have been occasionally 

 seen which were no more than seven. On 

 the other hand, the draught horse commonly 

 stands from sixteen to seventeen hands ; and 

 not unfrequently surpasses this height. In 

 regard to the conformation of the skull, again, 

 it has been remarked by Blumenbach, that 

 there is more difference between the elon- 

 gated head of the Neapolitan horse and the 

 skull of the Hungarian breed, which last is re- 

 markable for its shortness and the breadth of 

 the lower jaw, than there is between the most 

 dissimilar human crania. The differences in 

 general constitution, also, as regards the power 

 of sustained effort on the one hand, or of 

 intense exertion for a short period on the 

 other, are no less remarkable. But the 

 breeds which are furthest removed from each 

 other in these particulars are connected by 

 such a gradual series of transitional forms, 

 that there is no possibility of drawing a 

 line between them ; and, like the various 

 races of dogs, sheep, &c., they freely inter- 

 mingle with each other, and produce offspring 

 which are as fertile with their own kind, as 

 with either of the parent stocks. It has 

 been, in fact, by such intermixture of the 

 large and powerful races of Northern Asia 

 with the lighter and more agile horses of 

 Arabia and Barbary, that many of the Euro- 

 pean breeds have been obtained. The wild 

 horses which at present range over the plains 

 of Tartary differ from the domesticated races 

 in several particulars ; thus, as we are in- 

 formed by Pallas, the cranium is relatively 

 larger and more vaulted, the limbs are 

 stronger, the back is less arched ; their 

 hoofs are smaller and more pointed ; their 

 ears are longer and bent more forward. Their 

 habits, moreover, are peculiar; for they asso- 

 ciate together in herds or troops to the 

 number of several thousands, spreading abroad 

 to feed, but congregating together on the 

 appearance of danger, and seemingly putting 

 themselves under the direction of a leader ; 

 on the approach of an enemy they close into 

 a dense crowd, and, attacking the intruder, 

 trample him to death ; or, like many other 

 gregarious animals, the females, the young, 

 and the weak being placed in the rear, the 

 stronger individuals array themselves in front, 

 and fight most vigorously with their heels. 

 Now these peculiarities of structure and habit 

 are not only seen in the wild horses of 

 Northern Asia, but also in those which have 

 spread themselves over the extensive plains 

 of South America, since their introduction 

 into that continent by the Spaniards ; and it 

 is nearly certain that the former, like the 

 latter, are the descendants of a domesticated 

 stock, whose return to something like the 



VOL. IV. 



original condition of the species, has repro- 

 duced (at least in some degree) the original 

 instincts, which had been entirely subdued 

 for a time by the influence of domestication. 

 In the horse, as in the dog, we have evidence 

 that the habits which are developed by human 

 training may become, to a certain extent, 

 hereditary. Thus, it is observed that the 

 wild horse has no pace but the walk and the 

 gallop; the trot, to which European horses 

 are usually trained, is an acquired habit, yet 

 it obviously " comes naturally" to the colt of 

 a domesticated breed ; and, in like manner, 

 the peculiar pace to which the South Ame- 

 rican horses are trained (which is a kind of 

 running amble, the two legs of the same side 

 being moved forwards together) is used with- 

 out any instruction by the offspring of those 

 by whom it has been acquired. Another ex- 

 ample of the transmission of acquired pro- 

 pensities in horses is mentioned by Mr. Knight: 

 the Norwegian ponies have been taught to 

 obey the voice of their riders rather than the 

 bridle ; and the English horse-breakers com- 

 plain that it is impossible to produce the 

 latter habit in the offspring of this race placed 

 under their tuition, notwithstanding that they 

 are exceedingly docile and obedient when 

 they understand the commands of their master, 

 as imparted by word of month. It is equally 

 difficult, he adds, to keep them within hedges, 

 owing, perhaps, to the unrestrained liberty to 

 which the race may have been accustomed in 

 Norway. 



From the present condition and past his- 

 tory of the domesticated races of Mammalia, 

 of which a general survey has thus been taken, 

 some important inferences may be drawn, 

 which it may be advisable to put in the shape 

 of formal propositions ; since in this manner 

 we shall be able to define our terms more 

 strictly, and to use these definitions as the 

 foundation for our future investigations into 

 the relationship of the several branches of the 

 Human family. 



1. Races of living beings are, properly, 

 successions of individuals propagated from 

 any given stock ; and the term implies no more 

 than the fact of the transmission of a distinctive 

 character by descent. 



2. Two races, distinguished by well-marked 

 peculiarities, may rank either as distinct spe- 

 cies, or as varieties of the same species ; being 

 supposed, in the first case, to be descended 

 from parents which themselves originally ex- 

 hibited the same peculiarities ; and being 

 considered, in the second, as the descendants 

 of an identical, or, at any rate, of a similar, 

 parentage. 



3. The question of unity or diversity of 

 species, between two races, cannot be decided 

 by the degree of difference which exists be- 

 tween them ; for the answer to it entirely 

 depends upon the constancy with which the 

 peculiarity (of whatever nature it may be) is 

 transmitted from parent to offspring, and upon 

 the amount of variation which is exhibited 

 even within the acknowledged limits of the 



4, P 



