BREEDS AND THE PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 415 



Atayism. Webster defines atavism as denoting &quot;the recurrence of any peculiarity or 

 disease of an ancestor in a subsequent generation, after an intermission for a generation or 

 two.&quot; Dana defines it f the recurrence of the original type of a species in the progeny of 

 its varieties.&quot; This occasional reversion, or &quot;cropping out&quot; of the peculiarities or types, is 

 frequently seen in perpetuating the races of animals and plants, and may properly be said to 

 be due to the power of hereditary law, by which characteristics are transmitted from one 

 generation to another. Thus we occasionally see horns in the Galloway, Suffolk, and other 

 breeds that have been bred hornless for many generations, but which were originally a 

 horned race of cattle. Sidney cites a remarkable case of atavism in a litter of Essex pigs, 

 two of which showed the Berkshire cross of twenty-eight years previous. Numerous 

 instances of the kind might be mentioned, showing that in animals and plants there is a con 

 stant tendency in nature to revert to the original type, and this is what the breeder has to 

 constantly guard against, by always selecting those types of the breed for perpetuating the 

 race that possess the qualities it is desired to have transmitted; in other words, always select 

 the lest for breeding purposes. 



Heredity. The power of animals to propagate their own characteristics is hereditary, 

 or transmitted from one generation to another. It is one of the principles of breeding that 

 the strongest and best-bred animals will have the predominating influence over the offspring. 

 The more powerful this inheritance, and the stronger the in-breeding, avoiding incest, the 

 more surely will these characteristics be transmitted to the progeny; or, in other words, the 

 purer and less mixed the breed, the more likely it is to be transmitted unaltered to the off 

 spring. 



Darwin says: &quot;It is hardly possible, within a moderate compass, to impress on those who 

 have not attended to the subject the full conviction of the force of inheritance, which is 

 slowly acquired by rearing animals, by studying various treatises which have been published 

 on the various domestic animals, and by conversing with breeders.&quot; He refers to certain 

 peculiarities that have appeared but once or twice in the world s history, but which have 

 reappeared in children or grandchildren of the individuals so characterized; as for instance, 

 Lambert, known as &quot;the porcupine man,&quot; whose skin was covered with warty projections 

 which were periodically moulted, had all of his six children and two grandsons affected in a 

 similar manner. Other striking instances of inheritance in man might be mentioned, and 

 which are everywhere apparent, such as peculiarities of form, feature, temperament, and 

 even disease, for injurious peculiarities may be inherited quite as readily as those that are 

 beneficial. 



Nearly all the diseases to which the horse is subject are hereditary, such as contracted 

 feet, curbs, splints, spavin, founder, weakness in the fore legs, roaring, specific ophthalmia, 

 blindness, crib-biting, etc. The very existence of the numerous breeds of domestic animals 

 is convincing proof of the possibility of the transmission of characteristics of every kind, 

 instance of which has been given in the varieties of domestic pigeons, which amount to over 

 one hundred and fifty, all differing from each other, and yet breeding true to their kind. It 

 is well known that a race of cattle was formed in Yorkshire many years ago, called &quot; Dutch 

 buttocked &quot; cattle, which were characterized by having very large hind quarters. This race 

 was formed by selecting for breeding purposes in each generation the animals having the 

 largest hind quarters. This peculiarity became so marked when the herd began to be estab 

 lished, that the large size of the hind quarters of the calves were found to greatly increase 

 the dangers of parturition. A rabbit born with only one ear became the founder of a breed, 

 which steadily produced one-eared rabbits. 



Animals that have been mutilated have been known to transmit these peculiarities to 

 their offspring, as for instance, guinea pigs that had lost their toes have in several instances 



produced offspring without toes. Dr. Miles, in his work on Stock Breeding, has collected.. 

 VOL. II. 24 



