PEDIGREES AND FAMILY TIES. 201 



gets a hearing. The feeling that lies behind 

 all this is the same that prompts us in our dis- 

 trust of strangers. We like references or letters 

 of introduction when the individual claiming 

 ought from us has no record or achievement of his 

 own sufficiently notorious to supply their place. 



If amongst ourselves "pedigree" is a market- 

 able commodity, it becomes even more so when 

 we descend to the consideration of our domestic 

 animals, our horses, cattle and dogs, our fowls, 

 pigeons, and so on. Here undoubtedly it is no 

 mere sentiment but real worth that we pay for. 

 The horse or the dog we buy that is thorough 

 bred or pure -bred, as we call it, possesses 

 -certain qualities which his mongrel brethren 

 have not. In each case the particular quality 

 was present in their more or less remote ances- 

 tor, and was the cause of their being held in 

 special esteem. 



These thorough-bred or pure-bred animals we 

 owe to the acumen and forethought of our fore- 

 fathers, who, by carefully selecting mates most 

 nearly approaching their ideal of perfection 

 in certain points — say speed, or the quality of 

 wool — gradually increased the desired property 

 both in quality and quantity. This increase 

 came about by virtue of what we call the law^ 

 of heredity, the principle which causes an animal 

 to resemble its parents ; or, if you will, which 

 causes an animal to produce offspring like itself. 

 Thus, as we have already remarked, the young 

 of a particular kind of bird or a particular kind 

 of snake will reproduce all the peculiarities of 

 form and colour which characterised its parents, 



