HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 31 



been laid down, and steadily adhered to, in the 

 improvement of the several breeds of cattle; and 

 which have been so successfully brought into prac- 

 tice. The first, and most obvious, is beauty of 

 form, a principle which has been in common ap- 

 plied to every species of domestic cattle, and, with 

 great seeming propriety, was supposed to form the 

 basis of every kind of improvement, under an idea, 

 that beauty of form and utility were inseparable. 

 But at present a distinction is made, by men who 

 have been long conversant in practice, between a 

 useful sort and a sort that is merely handsome. 

 Utility of form is therefore the next general prin- 

 ciple, and may be considered as arising from a 

 larger proportion of those parts which are the most 

 useful: thus, for instance, all those parts which are 

 deemed offal, or which bear an inferior price, should 

 be small in proportion to the better parts. A third 

 principle of improvement, laid down by breeders, 

 consists in the fineness of the muscular parts, or 

 what is termed flesh. But the great object which 

 engrosses the attention of breeders at present, is 

 the fattening quality, or a natural propensity in 

 cattle to arrive at a state of fatness at an early age, 

 and in a short space of time : and it appears, from 

 observation, that beauty and utility of form, the 

 quality of the flesh, and a propensity to fatness, are 

 principles consistent with each other, are frequently 

 found united in the same individual, and hereditary 

 in particular lines or families of cattle. In regard 

 to the means of improvement, it has long been an 

 established maxim, that, to improve the breed, it 

 is necessary to cross it with others of an alien 

 stock, under an opinion, that continuing to breed 



