PERPETUATION OF LIVING BEINGS. 113 



well to talk about producing these different races, but 

 you know very well that if you turned all these birds 

 wild, these Pouters, and Carriers, and so on, they would 

 all return to their primitive stock." This is very com- 

 monly assumed to be a fact, and it is an argument that 

 is commonly brought forward as conclusive; but if you 

 will take the trouble to inquire into it rather closely, I 

 think you will find that it is not worth very much. 

 The first question of course is, Do they thus return to 

 the primitive stock ? And commonly as the thing is 

 assumed and accepted, it is extremely difficult to get 

 anything like good evidence of it. It is constantly 

 said, for example, that if domesticated Horses are turned 

 wild, as they have been in some parts of Asia Minor 

 and South America, that they return at once to the 

 primitive stock from which they were bred. But the 

 first answer that you make to this assumption is, to ask 

 who knows what the primitive stock was; and the 

 second answer is, that in that case the wild Horses of 

 Asia Minor ought to be exactly like the wild Horses 

 of South America. If they are both like the same 

 thing, they ought manifestly to be like each other ! 

 The best authorities, however, tell you that it is quite 

 different. The wild Horse of Asia is said to be of a 

 dun colour, with a largish head, and a great many other 

 peculiarities; while the best authorities on the wild 

 Horses of South America tell you that there is no 

 similarity between their wild Horses and those of 

 Asia Minor; the cut of their heads is very different, 

 and they are commonly chestnut or bay-coloured. It 

 is quite clear, therefore, that as by these facts there 

 ought to have been two primitive stocks, they go for 



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