46 An Attempt to classify 



generation will possess it in a still more remarkable degree ; 

 and so on, till at length the variety I designate a breeds is 

 formed, which may be very unlike the original type. 



The examples of this class of varieties must be too obvious 

 to need specification : many of the varieties of cattle, and, in 

 all probability, the greater number of those of domestic 

 pigeons, have been generally brought about in this manner. 

 It is worthy of remark, however, that the original and typical 

 form of an animal is in great measure kept up by the same 

 identical means by which a true breed is produced. The 

 original form of a species is unquestionably better adapted to 

 its natural habits than any modification of that form ; and, 

 as the sexual passions excite to rivalry and conflict, and the 

 stronger must always prevail over the weaker, the latter, in a 

 state of nature, is allowed but few opportunities of continuing 

 its race. In a large herd of cattle, the strongest bull drives 

 from him all the younger and weaker individuals of his own 

 sex, and remains sole master of the herd; so that all the 

 young which are produced must have had their origin from 

 one which possessed the maximum of power and physical 

 strength; and which, consequently, in the struggle for exist- 

 ence, was the best able to maintain his ground, and defend 

 himself from every enemy. In like manner, among animals 

 which procure their food by means of their agility, strength, 

 or delicacy of sense, the one best organised must always 

 obtain the greatest quantity; and must, therefore, become 

 physically the strongest, and be thus enabled, by routing its 

 opponents, to transmit its superior qualities to a greater num- 

 ber of offspring. The same law, therefore, which was in- 

 tended by Providence" to keep up the typical qualities of a 

 species, can be easily converted by man into a means of rais- 

 ing different varieties ; but it is also clear that, if man did 

 not keep up these breeds by regulating the sexual intercourse, 

 they would all naturally soon revert to the original type. 

 Farther, it is only on this principle that we can satisfactorily 

 account for the degenerating effects said to be produced by 

 the much-censured practice of " breeding in and in." * 

 There would almost seem, in some species, to be a tendency, in 

 every separate family, to some particular kind of deviation ; 

 which is only counteracted by the various crossings which, in 

 a state of nature, must take place, and by the above-mentioned 

 law, which causes each race to be chiefly propagated by the 

 most typical and perfect individuals. 



V. True Varieties. — The last of these divisions to which 



* See, however, a good practical article on this subject, entitled " Breed- 

 ing," in one of the forthcoming numbers of the now publishing edition of 

 Miller's Dictionary of Gardening and Rural Economy. 



