53 



Every living being develops itself under two kinds of modifying 

 influences : First, the characteristics transmitted by the parents ; 

 second, the conditions of the surroundings in which the animal is 

 born, developed and matured. 



Characteristic features transmitted by the parents are important 

 factors in the question of races. To obtain a fine individual is 

 nothing if the offspring does not inherit the qualities of the parents ; 

 but we must also admit that a vicious education and conditions 

 unfavorable to the development may destroy the best hereditary pre- 

 dispositions. We must therefore, in raising animals, observe at the 

 same time these two series of influences. 



It is undeniable that all organized beings are inclined to resemble 

 their p.irents ; hence the more the conformation of the parents is alike 

 the more their produce will ie apt to reproduce this conformation. In 

 transmitting their conformation to their produce, the parents being 

 alike, they necessarily transmit their own special aptitudes, such as an 

 aptitude for the development of strength and speed in horses, milk 

 qualities in cows, fine wool for sheep, fattening qualities in swine, etc. 



The uniformity of character, conformation, and aptitude in large 

 groups of animals is therefore a characteristic sign of the purity of a 

 race. The more the animals have reproduced themselves with the 

 same characters, from generation to generation, the more the race is 

 fixed and established. 



A race can, therefore, only be established as the result of the con- 

 tinuous and extended accidental or deliberate action of the influences 

 which have produced it, when each individual will resemble its 

 parent, just as the proof printed from a stereotyped page resembles 

 all the copies printed before. 



These conditions show that in order to preserve and improve a 

 race the important points are : First, to select as reproducers only 

 animals that come the nearest to the type of the race, and which will 

 best fulfil the aim and purpose of the race; second, to have a book 

 of record by means of which the pedigrees of the animals can be 

 traced. The longer this book of record shall have been established 

 the greater will be the guarantee to the purchaser of the purity and 

 fixity of the race. 



As you know, a race is not the result solely of natural influences. 

 Man, to meet the exigencies of his wants, may exercise his action so 

 as to modify the typical features of a group of animals by means of 

 selection, food, etc., but he cannot succeed in fixing and establishing 



