THE PEECHEEON" HOESE. 39 



studied the equine races, followed, step by stop, their 

 progeny, and made himself acquanted with their per- 

 formances. This fact is : 



If a horse is remarkable over all others in one of the 

 three following ways : personal beauty, high qualities, or 

 Bareness of reproduction ; go back boldly to his origin, 

 and you will find yourself, at each step, face to face 

 with close interbreeding that is to say, the reforming of a 

 race by means of itself, the result of great qualities in- 

 creased by drafts made at the source of a generous blood. 



The thoroughbred race in England, which has been 

 formed but with a very limited number of primitive agents, 

 and which, consequently, soon became consanguine, has 

 anew, and at two distinct epochs, absorbed in every de- 

 gree and repeatedly the blood of two famous groups, rep- 

 resented, the first by Byerly Turk, Darley Arabian, 

 and Godolphin Arabian; the second, by Matchem, Herod^ 

 and Eclipse. At the present moment, it maintains itself, 

 thanks to a universal consanguinity, and everything good 

 which exists, by going back inevitably to these sole pro- 

 genitors, now. forms but one and the same family. Mag- 

 nificent results have come from these alliances, and every 

 day it can be proved that this blood has not degenerated. 



It is the same in all breeding countries, and it has been 

 shown, (for proofs see the journal "La vie d la campagne", 

 of the 30th November, 1863), that especially in Merlerault, 

 the nursery of the fine French breeds, everything excep- 

 tionally good which exists, or which has existed, is the re- 

 sult of consanguinity that is, " in-and-in breeding." 



The following is the conclusion of the author of this note : 



These examples (the pedigrees of the best horses), col- 

 lected with care, will perhaps bring upon me the accusa- 

 tion of being a partisan of in-and-in breeding. In 

 principle, I condemn its absolute use ; but, within cer- 

 tain limits, I admit and advise it, especially in the com- 

 mencement, when it becomes a question of founding and 



