THE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM. 57 



inexperienced breeders, which consists in cultivating- a particular 

 quality, or propagating a particular point of form ; while, at the 

 same time, losing sight of the integrity of purpose, they deteriorate 

 the aggregate. In this way fox-hounds may be bred to run near- 

 ly as fast as greyhounds, but it is at the expense of their scent, 

 their hardihood, and, I suspect, of their sagacity also. For it 

 cannot be too strongly inculcated on the mind of every breeder, 

 as an established law in the animal enonomy, that an extraordinary 

 degree of excellence existing in any set of organs, whether it be 

 natural or acquired, is almost invariably accompanied with a pri- 

 vation of the usual quantity of it in some other^^. This law is 

 fully exemplified in those animals where breeding is carried to 

 its greatest refinement ; or, in other words, where cultivation in 

 qualities or form, or both, weakens or destroys the instinctive 

 habits and original structure to such a degree as to make the sub- 

 jects of it inferior in their reproductive processes, both as breeders 

 and rearers of progeny ; and which appears to extend throughout 

 all our very high bred animals : among the feathered race it is 

 peculiarly remarkable. The higher any animal is bred, the more 

 artificially he becomes placed with regard to external circumstances, 

 till at length he requires constant care to obviate those contingen- 

 cies that would be unheeded by others. 



Breeding In-and-in. — Among the practical and systematic 

 breeders of all domestic animals, and among none more than 

 those sportsmen who devote themselves to the improvement of the 

 dog^ a great diversity of opinion has always existed on the subject 

 of consanguineous breeding ; or of that between near relations 

 characterised by the term In-and-in. The conflicting authorities 

 on the subject are numerous, and it is more than probable that 

 they will remain so, until a long course of experiment is undertaken 



" Without this compensating principle we might cultivate one race of ani- 

 mals to the total extinction of another. If the greyhound had not lost his 

 power of following his game by scenting it^ when his capabilities of overtaking 

 it by agility had been artificially increased to the wonderful perfection we now 

 find it, the breed of hares must inevitably have been destroyed. 



