Epidemics. 257 



nable flaws, which in the sale ought to be kept strictly in the 

 background, for fear the purchaser will count him dis- 

 qualified for future stock ? 



Which of our breeds are settled for the end for which they 

 are wanted, even at the present day ? Have not some dis- 

 qualifications presented themselves that, in the eye of the 

 breeder, are quite within the range of possible exclusion 

 which as yet have not been surmounted ? 



If so, what does it say but that, for our own day and 

 generation, the cross that will yield us a permanent species 

 for many generations, which will not be perpetually going 

 back to this fault of the dam and that fault of the sire, is 

 not yet begotten ? 



But that cattle and horses do in time so cross, that some 

 permanent stock is produced that meets existing wants, and 

 retains its efficiency for many generations without returning 

 to one or other of its pristine progenitors, is beyond all 

 doubt a positive fact, as certain well-known breeds in past 

 generations abundantly prove. 



But it must be observed that chemistry, applied to 

 agriculture, and to improved productive soils, and their 

 contained nutrient growths, is altogether a problem of the 

 greatest utility to man, and also of the greatest scientific 

 difficulty ; and kinds of crops, in relation to quality of breed, 

 are of the greatest importance to the breeder and producer of 

 the present day. 



It will be said that, a queen bee being dead, the hive 

 selects a successor in the larval state, which by the rest is 

 so fed and nurtured that the size and form are marvellously 

 altered and enlarged, and the ovi sac is enormously 

 developed, and she ceases to be a neutral, but becomes the 

 matron of a large and busy population, which, swarming, 

 populates a fresh hive, and doubles the wealth of the lucky 

 owner. This, then, is instinct's chemico-vital teaching 



17 



