58 THE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM. 



by a society of scientific and observant breeders on various do- 

 mestic animals, for the express purpose of arriving at the truth 

 in this particular. A few soHtary or isolated facts can do little to 

 set the subject at rest : theory can only assist by philosophically 

 directing the inquiry aright : truth should be the ultimate object 

 of every pursuit, and, from whatever source it is obtained, it 

 should be embraced. I do not myself profess to have had much ^ 

 experience as a practical breeder, but I have endeavoured by in- 

 quiry to profit by the experience of others ; and such inquiries 

 have not done much to make me favourable to a continued system 

 of consanguineous breeding. An occasional one I am ready to ad- 

 vocate for the following reasons : First, its convenience, and next 

 because it enables the owner to correct defective points in the 

 growth ; and where it fails in this it almost invariably may be 

 employed in improving the temper, the judgment, and other 

 mental qualities : but let us hear what the favourers of a continued 

 system of in-and-in breeding have to offer. 



The first argument that presents itself in favour of multiplica- 

 tion from near relationship is, that the early human and brute 

 races must of necessity have been produced from the nearest 

 affinities ; and that it is unreasonable to suppose that Nature would 

 have set out on a principle tending to the immediate deterioration 

 of her works. This, however, has been called the mere argument 

 of necessity, and is said to apply only to the precise period when 

 there was no other connexion possible. I admit that this is an 

 argument of necessity, viewed with reference only to primitive 

 times; but it stands otherwise when we reflect that, for ages 

 after, consanguineous marriages were consummated among nations 

 of refinement, and to this day, among savage tribes particularly, 

 their reigning families and chiefs confine themselves to marriage 

 among lineal kindred^S; and yet in neither instance has any degene- 



1^ The Egyptians are said to have allowed of the marriages of brothers to 

 sisters. The Athenians admitted the betrothing of brothers and sisters of the 

 half blood, if related by the father's side. The marriage of Abraham with his 

 sister assures us that it was practised among the Chaldeans ; and it may be 



