HYBRIDS. 35 



spring of the white and the negro cannot continue, above a gen- 

 eration or two, or at most three, to intermarry, like to like, and 

 reproduce itself, without recurring to one of the original stocks, 

 from which to derive vitality and vigor. 



By continual interconnection with the white, it rises nearer 

 and nearer to the higher type ; by recurrence to the black, it 

 relapses into that, from which it was temporarily lifted by the 

 hrst hybridization. 



So it is with horses, to the letter. If the half-bred filly be 

 united to a thoroughbred, and her female progeny be so con- 

 nected ad infinitum^ after a few generations, although the drop 

 of base blood must still be there, until the end of time, the 

 progeny will be but a little removed in quality, and entirely 

 undistinguishable in outward appearance, from the pure- 

 blooded animal. 



If, on the contrary, the half-bred filly be bred back to the 

 Cleveland Bay, or cart-horse, even more rapidly than in the 

 other case, will the process of assimilation, or, in this instance, 

 of re-assimilation advance. Before the tliird oi*, at farthest, the 

 fourth cross, the outward characteristics of the pure blood will 

 have wholly disappeared ; and, although, as in the other in- 

 stance, the drop of noble blood must continue there ad infini- 

 tum^ its effects will be to all intents and purposes lost, and 

 the animal will be, in spirit and endurance, as in show, little su- 

 perior, if at all, to the baser of its original progenitors. 



That the same process should occur, where half-breds are 

 inter-bred with half-breds, generation after generation, is inex- 

 plicable ; but it is certain. Why the pure blood, which, where 

 it exists unmixed, seems to be indestructible, should be incapa- 

 ble of a prolonged existence when mixed, and must, slowly, but 

 certainly, die out, no man can say, or conjecture. But that it 

 is so, is shown, beyond a peradventure, by the experience of 

 centuries in the s^'stem of breeding, and is confirmed by the 

 opinion of all distinguished physiologists. 



Like democratic conquests, it can only be preserved by far- 

 ther conquests. Acquisition must be added to acquisition, or 

 the first gain must become a loss. 



To this' consideration I shall have occasion ere long to re- 

 vert, when dealing with the pretensions of what assumes to be a 



