408 THE CAUSES OF THE XI 



it is certainly a variation which carried with it no 

 use or benefit ; and yet you see the tendency to 

 perpetuation may be so strong, that, notwithstand- 

 ing a great admixture of pure blood, the variety 

 continues itself up to the third generation, which 

 is largely marked with it. In this case, as I have 

 said, there was no means of the second generation 

 intermarrying with any but five-fingered persons, 

 and the question naturally suggests itself, What 

 would have been the result of such marriage ? 

 Re'aumur narrates this case only as far as the third 

 generation. Certainly it would have been an ex- 

 ceedingly curious thing if we could have traced this 

 matter any further ; had the cousins intermarried, 

 a six -fingered variety of the human race might 

 have been set up. 



To show you that this supposition is by no means 

 an unreasonable one, let me now point out what 

 took place in the case of Seth Wright's sheep, 

 where it happened to be a matter of moment to 

 him to obtain a breed or raise a flock of sheep like 

 that accidental variety that I have described and 

 I will tell you why. In that part of Massachusetts 

 where Seth Wright was living, the fields were 

 separated by fences, and the sheep, which were 

 very active and robust, would roam abroad, and 

 without much difficulty jump over these fences in- 

 to other people's farms. As a matter of course, 

 this exuberant activity on the part of the sheep 

 constantly gave rise to all sorts of quarrels, bicker- 



