ON BREEDING. 129 



got by a blood-horse out of a blood mare, or a short- 

 homed calf bv a long-horned bull out of a long-horned 

 cow. Such a thing is never expected. If, then, these 

 general characteristics are invariably transmitted, have 

 we not some reason at least to conclude, that all things 

 are hereditary. In fact, that the offspring will inherit, 

 either in whole or in part, the most trifling peculiarities 

 of then- ancestors, sometimes taking more after the one 

 parent, and sometimes more after the other, or being 

 a mixture of both, as the case may be. What- 

 ever the peculiarities are — ^whether soundness, disease, 

 form, temper, softness, strength, durability, speed, 

 wind, or any other thing — they pass down from gene- 

 ration to generation. For instance, the descendants of 

 Waxy and Omlle are characterised by pluck, distance, 

 and durability ; whilst the Selims are celebrated chiefly 

 for speed. Again, to take an illustration from a very 

 long line of the pm'est breeding, I may refer to the here- 

 ditary colour of Hereford and Devon cows. Who ever 

 saw a Hereford without a white face, or a Devon of 

 any other colour than a rich red ? Here we see that 

 the very colour of the animal runs in blood. Those 

 who have an opportunity of inspecting Mr. Goodwin's 

 highly interesting tables containing the pedigree of 

 thoroughbred horses, will see at a glance that blood is 

 most unportant. He arranges all the stallions of 1856 

 under three heads — the Darley Arabian, the Byerly 



