122 PRODUCTION OF NEW RACES. 



years, he obtained greater numbers ; and when they became 

 capable of breeding with one another, a new, and strongly- 

 marked variety, before unknown to the world, was established. 

 This example show,s the influence which a scanty population 

 may have formerly had, in the production of varieties, both in the 

 human and other species. At the present time the natural 

 tendency is, for any peculiarity of this kind to be speedily lost, 

 by the intermixture of the individuals which exhibit it with the 

 large proportion of those in which it is absent ; unless this be 

 prevented, as in the instance just cited, by the interference of 

 Man. But it may be imagined that, in the earlier ages of the 

 world, some individuals in which a peculiarity existed, may have 

 been so far separated from the rest, that frequent union took 

 place among themselves; so that the character would be rendered 

 still more marked, instead of disappearing ; and, being propa- 

 gated for a few generations, would be rendered permanent in 

 this manner. Thus by the force of circumstances, the same crea- 

 tion of a new race would be effected, as the breeder of animals 

 now accomplishes, by the system he adopts. 



109. It is easy to adduce many instances, in which pecu- 

 liarities that have been developed by education, or by the 

 influence of particular . circumstances on the constitution, have 

 become hereditary. The peculiar habits of the various kinds of 

 Dogs used in sporting, were doubtless, for the most part, 

 originally forced upon them (as it were) by education ; but they 

 now become almost a part of their constitution. Thus it is not 

 only much easier to teach a young Dog of the Pointer breed to 

 point game, than it is to teach a dog of any other breed to do the 

 same ; but a Pointer puppy, when first taken into the field, 

 will sometimes perform its peculiar duty nearly as well as an 

 old and experienced dog. The same has been noticed of the 

 Retriever, a breed of dogs whose duty it is to stay by their 

 master until the game falls wounded, and then to bring it in ; 

 a habit which might have been supposed to be still less likely to 

 be transmitted, because more unlike the ordinary habits of the 

 species. It would seem, however, that habits of this kind, 

 which have been grafted upon an individual by education, are 



