210 NOTED MASTIFFS-. 



is in itself valueless ; the sort of pedigree that is all in all, if 

 men wish to breed with more or less certainty animals 

 approaching a fixed ideal or standard, is a pedigree which 

 shows a fair percentage of immediate ancestors approaching 

 more or less closely towards the desired type, for it should 

 always be remembered that for some reason the tendency is 

 for the offspring to resemble the grandparents and great 

 uncles and aunts, than either their sire or dam ; as Creech 

 translates the i22oth line of the ivth book of " de Rerum 

 Natura " of Lucretius, 



" And oft' with joy indulgent fathers view'd, 



" The grandsire's image in their sons renewed," etc. 



Moreover blood can only be rendered prepotent by in-breeding 

 to the required type. A pedigree therefore should show a 

 certain amount of in-breeding to the blood possessing the 

 required type ; m-breeding being the only sure way of 

 collection of type into a current, which gains strength and 

 permanency by cultivation. 



The capabilities of a sire to transmit his own type and 

 latent properties in his blood, depends very much upon his 

 having inherited the same from a succession of ancestors in 

 whom those properties have existed, the hereditary force being 

 concentrated and strengthened greatly by incestuous alliances 

 of animals of similar type. 



When a type is once collected into a current it rapidly 

 gains strength and development ; if for example girth of skull 

 is the particular point aimed at, by selecting the larger skulled 

 son to the sire, breeding from him, and selecting in turn the 

 largest skulled of his offspring, a strain is s6on established! 

 which will possess greater volume of skull if the females 

 selected are of kindred blood. 



