62 CATTLE-BREEDING. 



a right line early forced itself on the notice of 

 man. Monstrous births of man and beast find 

 a place in many of the early records of our race. 

 The causes of these departures from the law of 

 reproduction, from the rule that "like produces 

 like," were, however, long in being inquired 

 into in a scientific spirit. At first monstrous 

 births were looked upon as evidence of the an- 

 ger of the gods, and were regarded as portents 

 of impending evil. In time, however, reason 

 triumphed over superstition, and close investi- 

 gation showed that these notable and awe-in- 

 spiring monstrous offspring were only the ex- 

 treme and most radical cases of a large class 

 which were occurring more or less frequently 

 at all times in the animal and vegetable king- 

 doms. In short it came to be seen that in Na- 

 ture there is a tendency to change from the an- 

 cestral type under certain conditions. This is 

 more than a tendency to strong individualiza- 

 tion which some have been inclined to reckon 

 it. It differs in kind rather than degree, though 

 often very similar to such a strong individuali- 

 zation. It may be defined as a tendency to va- 

 riation from the parental type. Hence, it is 

 usually spoken of as 'Variation." 



The causes of variation may be in a very 

 loose way classed as general, as affecting the 

 whole number of ancestry and produced by 

 gradual and long-continued influences; and spe- 



