THE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM. 61 



** mystery with which he is well known to have carried on every 

 ** part of his business, and the various means which he employed 

 *' to mislead the public, induce me not to give that weight to his 

 ** assertions, which I should do to his real opinion, could it have 

 " been ascertained." To Mr. MeynelFs opinion of the same tend- 

 ency he replies — " Mr. Meynell's fox-hounds are quoted as an 

 " instance of the success of this practice (i. e. the in-and-in J ; 

 " but, on speaking to that gentleman upon the subject, I found 

 " that he did not attach the meaning that I do to the term in-and- 

 *' in. He said, that he frequently bred from the father and the 

 *' daughter, and the mother and the son. This is not what I con- 

 " sider as breeding in-and-in ; for the daughter is only half of the 

 " same blood as the father, and will probably partake in a great 

 " degree of the properties of the mother." 



Sir J. S. also, in another part of his letter, states some im- 

 portant facts on the matter in these words : — " I have tried many 

 " experiments by breeding in-and-in upon dogs, fowls, and pigeons : 

 *'the dogs became, from strong spaniels, weak and diminutive lap- 

 *' dogs ; the fowls became long in the legs, small in the body, and 

 "bad breeders." 



Sir W. C N, in his Treatise on Greyhounds, is also, in 



some degree, unfavourable to breeding a-kin. He says, "If 

 " continued for some litters a manifest inferiority of size, and a 

 " deficiency of bone will soon be visible, as well as a want of 

 " courage and bottom ; though the beauty of the form, with the 

 " exception of the size, may not be diminished." 



Button argues on the same side : — " Ce qu'il y a de singulier, 

 " c'est qu'il semble que le modele du beau et du bon soit disperse 

 *' par toute la terre, et que dans chaque climat il n'en reside qu'une 

 " portion qui degenere toujours, a moins qu'on ne la reunisse avec 

 " une autre portion prise an loin ; en sort que pour avoir de bon 

 "grain, de belles fleurs, &c. &c. il faut en echanger les grains 

 " et de ne jamais semer dans le meme terrein qui les a produits ; et 

 " de meme, pour avoir de beaux chevaux, de bons chiens, &c. &c. 

 "il faut donner aux femelles du pays des males Strangers, et 



