138 THE PERFECT HORSE. 



vexatious question, — vexatious, because no precise con- 

 clusion can be drawn as to it. The full solution calls 

 for such a penetration into the secrets of life and life- 

 begetting functions and causes as mortal may never hope 

 to have. But this much is beyond contradiction, — that 

 beginning with Eclipse, who was very closely inbred, 

 down to Hambletonian of our own times, many of the 

 most noted winners, and getters of winners, have been 

 the product of in-and-in breeding so close as to be 

 incestuous ; and, while facts have due weight in men's 

 estimate of what is wise and unwise in action, this will 

 be remembered, and will influence breeders, in spite of 

 theory and mere speculation, no matter by whom held 

 or advanced. To me it seems not only safe within 

 certain limits, and advisable on general principles, to 

 breed in and in when the stock is perfect, but the only 

 way in which the breeder can retain in his stables the 

 characteristic excellences, which, by years of selection 

 and experiment, perhaps, he has succeeded in producing. 



