138 PRINCIPLES OF STOCK-BREEDING. 



Sir John Sebright, whose successful practice gives 

 the weight of authority to his opinions on this subject, 

 is often quoted as an opponent of in-and-in breeding. 

 He evidently, however, limits the application of the 

 term to the frequent repetition of the closest rela- 

 tionship in parents. He says : " Mr. Meynel's fox- 

 hounds are likewise quoted as an instance of the 

 success of this practice ; but, upon speaking to that 

 gentleman upon the subject, I found that he did not 

 attach the meaning that I do to the term in-and-in. 

 He said that he frequently bred from the father and 

 the daughter, and the mother and son. That is not 

 what I consider as breeding in-and-in, for the daugh- 

 ter is only half of the same blood as the father, and 

 will probably partake, in a great degree, of the prop- 

 erties of the mother. 



"Mr. Meynel sometimes bred from brother and 

 sister ; this, certainly, is what may be called a little 

 close ; but should they loth le very good, and partic- 

 ularly should the same defects not predominate in 

 both, but the perfections of the one promise to cor- 

 rect in the produce the imperfections of the other, 1 

 do not think it objectionable : much further than this, 

 the system of breeding from the same family cannot, 

 in my opinion, be pursued with safety." 



' He then proceeds to point out the difficulties that 

 arise, in the practice of what he calls in-and-in breed- 

 ing, from the rare instances in which breeding-ani- 

 mals are found to be free from defects. 



If the terms inbreeding, close breeding, and in- 

 terbreeding, are used to indicate the breeding to- 



1 " The Art of improving the Breed of Domestic Animals," pp. 8, 9. 



