306 DaDL'& VETf.RINARY MEDICINE AND SURGERr. 



kind > f beauty is what most men seek after, and, at a high prioe^ 

 to thrii sorrow, obtain it; whereas the real beauty of form and 

 endowments, which practical husbandmen really require, must 

 originate unartiticially in the living citadel — must be the work 

 of Nature and not of art. 



It is a fact, well known to many men, that animals of faultleafl 

 form, having symmetrical proportions, are exempt from many 

 diseases which are the heritage of faulty and inferior animals, and 

 insurance companies take advantage of this knowledge, and insure 

 the forrner at less rates than the latter. As an illustration of the 

 above, I may be permitted to remark that the " Arabian Courser," 

 English "blood horse," American "Black Il-^wk,'* and pure 

 "Devon" cow — all remarkable for good points, beauty, and en- 

 durance — are exempt from many of the coninion and unnecessary 

 diseases and abortions. Beauty and symmetrical proportions ecu- 

 tribute to health, because there is a certain degree of relationship 

 between external and internal organs and functions. For exam- 

 ]>le, a fine exterior, good depth of chest, well-proportioned muscles, 

 and graceful limbs are generally coexistent with good " wind and 

 bottom," and the subjects, of course, possess active respiratory 

 organs, a finely-balanced circulation, and a digestive appai'atus 

 that can digest every article in the shape of fodder. ^ In selecting 

 the beautiful, we therefore obtain material for perpetuatiup- health, 

 long life, and valuable offspring. 



One of Blakewell's great secrets was, " Breed from the beau- 

 tiful." I allude to him because he was the most successful 

 " breeder " that England ever boasted of. At the onset he paid 

 great attention to " beauty of form." Having developed a fine 

 exterior, he engrafted on it the useful. He was well aware that 

 beauty and utility were not always combined, but, being in pos- 

 session of the former, he could produce the latter to " order ;" and 

 he accomplished his object in the following manner. He required 

 cows that would yield a large quantity of milk; consequently he 

 selected those whose dams had long been celebrated for their ex- 

 cellent milking qualities, and from among such he chose the very 

 best female of the family, and united her with a beautiful male. 

 Having, in the production of offspring througl the above union, 

 accomplished his object, he then paid less attention to beauty, and 

 more to the milking qualities, so as to render the ^atter permanent 

 in the breed. Still, in all his experiments he rejected uncouth^ 



