104 THE HORSE. 



in Sir Hercules with that of Rubens in Ruby; but as Waxy and 

 Buzzard, the respective ancestors of all these horses, were both 

 grandsons of Herod, and great-grandsons of Snap, it only strength- 

 ens the argument in favor of in-breeding. This conclusion is in 

 accordance with the 14th and 15th axioms, which embody the 

 state of our present knowledge of the theory of generation ; and 

 if they are examined, they will be seen to bear upon the present 

 subject, so as to lead one to advise the carrying out of the practice 

 of in-and-in breeding to the same extent as has been found so suc- 

 cessful in the instances which I have given. Purity of blood is 

 intimately connected with the practice, because the nearer it is to 

 one standard, the more unmixed it is, and by consequence the more 

 fully it is represented in the produce. Hence, it is doubly needful 

 to take care that this pure blood is of a good kind ; because if bad, 

 it will perpetuate its bad qualities just as closely as it would the 

 good, or perhaps still more so." 



I have nothing to add to these remarks ; and if I were to adduce 

 the few instances in their support which can have occurred since 

 1855-6, when they were written, I should add little to the mass of 

 evidence which I have already collected. An appeal to the past 

 can only be answered in the way which I have recorded ; for the 

 evidence of repeated success in resorting to the practice of in-breed- 

 ing is too strong to be gainsaid. We will now consider whether 

 the effects of an out-cross are of superior or equal value. 



OUT-CROSSING. 



BETWEEN IN-AND-IN BREEDING, which I have defined as the 

 pairing of animals within the relationship of second cousins, and 

 the opposite extreme of uniting those which are not at all allied in 

 blood, there are many degrees ; but as, in the thorough-bred horse, 

 there are scarcely two in the Stud-book which cannot be traced 

 back to the same stock in one or more lines, we do not generally 

 understand " a cross" to demand absolute distinctness of blood. 

 For instance, Teddington is generally considered as the result of 

 as marked a cross as we ever met with in the modern Stud-book. 

 For five generations, the same name never appears in the pedigree 

 tables of his sire and dam ; but in the sixth, we find the name of 

 Sir Peter occur three times on the side of his sire, and twice on 

 that of his dam, besides six other lines of Herod blood on the part 

 of the sire, and eight on that of the dam. Here, therefore, there 

 was a return to the original lines of blood, which had been in-bred 

 twice each, after five successive departures from them as far as 

 could be effected in this particular kind of horse. The last are 

 called " crosses/' though not being exactly the reverse of in-breed- 

 ing, for the reason, as I before remarked, that an absolute freedom 

 from relationship is not to be found, or, if so, extremely rarely 



