186 SELECTION. Chap. XX. 



Bionally carried on, by a few of the iuhabitants of a country, 

 will slowly produce a great effect. 



In a well known passage in the thirtieth chapter of Genesis, 

 rules are given for influencing, as was then thought possible, 

 the colour of sheep ; and speckled and dark breeds are spoken 

 of as being kept separate. By the time of David the fleece 

 was likened to snow. Youatt,^^ who has discussed all the 

 passages in relation to breeding in the Old Testament, con- 

 cludes that at this early period " some of the best principles 

 of breeding must have been steadily and long pursued." It 

 was ordered, according to Moses, that " Thou shalt not let thy 

 cattle gender with a diverse kind ; " but mules were pur- 

 chased,^^ so that at this early period other nations must have 

 crossed the horse and ass. It is said^^ that Erichthonius, 

 some generations before the Trojan war, had many brood- 

 mares, " which by his care and judgment in the choice of 

 stallions produced a breed of horses superior to any in the 

 surrounding countries." Homer (Book v.) speaks of ^Eneas' 

 horses as bred from mares which were put to the steeds of 

 Laomedon. Plato, in his ' Eepublic,' says to Glaucus, " I see 

 that you raise at your house a great many dogs for the chase. 

 Do you take care about breeding and pairing them ? Among 

 animals of good blood, are there not alwa3^s some which are 

 superior to the rest ? " To which Glaucus answers in the 

 affirmative.^* Alexander the Great selected the finest Indian 

 cattle to send to Macedonia to improve the breed.^^ Acccord- 

 ing to Pliny,^^ King Pyrrhus had an especiall}' valuable 

 breed of oxen : and he did not suffer the bulls and cows to 

 come together till four years old, that the breed might not 

 degenerate. Virgil, in his Georgics (lib. iii.), gives as strong 

 advice as any modern agriculturist could do, carefull}'" to select 

 the breeding stock ; " to note the tribe, the lineage, and the 

 sire ; whom to reserve for husband of the herd; " — to brand 

 the progen}^ ; — to select sheep of the purest white, and to 

 examine if their tongues are swarthy. We have seen that the 



31 On Sheep, p. 18. ^ Dr. Dally, trssil(?.ted in * Anthro- 



32 Volz, ' Beitriige zur Kulturge- pological Review,' May 1864, p. 101. 

 schichte,' 1852, s. 47. ^""Volz, 'Beitrage,' kc, 1852, s. 



" Mitford's 'History of Greece,' 80. 

 vol. i. p. 73. »« ' History of the World,' ch. 45. 



