62 THE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM. 



" reciproquement aux males du pays des femelles etrangeres; sans 

 " cela les grains, les fleurs, les animaux degenerent, ou plutot 

 " prennent uni si fort teinture du climat, que la raatiere domine 

 " sur la forme, et semble I'abatardir, I'empreinte reste, mais defi- 

 " guree par tons les traits, qui ne lui sont pas essentiels. En 

 "melant au contraire les races, et surtout en les renouvelant 

 " toujours par les races Etrangeres, la forme semble se perfectionner, 

 " et la nature se relever et donner tout ce quelle produit de meil- 

 " leur." Buffbn Hist. Nat. tom. iv, p. 216.— Mr. Beckford, in his 

 Thoughts on Hunting, appears equally averse to consanguineous 

 canine breeding. " A very famous sportsman has told me, that 

 "he frequently breeds from brothers and sisters. As I should be 

 " very unwilling to urge any thing in opposition to such authority, 

 " you had better try it ; and if it succeeds in hounds, it is more, I 

 " believe, than it usually does in other animals." 



It remains to add, that many practical breeders of inferior note 

 are averse to propagating in succession from near relationship by 

 blood, as brother and sister, father and daughter, &c. &c. ; but 

 many allow even the benefit of relationship in a more remote de- 

 gree. This is particularly the case with some rearers of game 

 fowls, who are favourable to breeding from the third remove, 

 which they call a nick. From all which discrepancy of opinion 

 may be gained, that the subject is at present somewhat pro- 

 blematical; and that the opposition to it, if not altogether un- 

 founded, has, nevertheless, not yet received such an accumulation 

 of striking and incontrovertible facts as to force conviction. 

 One thing it is but just to state, which is, that breeding in-and-in 

 among dogs, which is the point more immediately connected with 

 our present inquiry, seems to have more opponents than it has in 

 the multiplication of any other domestic race of animals. Whe- 

 ther it be, that dogs, from their habits of close intimacy with us, 

 aflford more opportunities of close observation, or whether there 

 be really an inherent aptitude in them unfavourable to propa- 

 gation from near affinities, is not agreed on generally ; but the 

 prejudice deserves to be fully canvassed by a series of experi- 



