BUFFON— FULLER QUOTATIONS. I17 



they have design in stopping the mouths of their 

 habitations." * 



Does it not look as if Dr. Darwin had in his mind 

 the very passage of Buffon which I have been last 

 quoting? and is it likely that the facts which were 

 accepted by Dr. Darwin without question, or the con- 

 clusions which were obvious to him, were any less 

 accepted by or obvious to Buffon ? 



The Goat — Hyhridism. 



In his prefatory remarks upon the goat, Buffon com- 

 plains of the want of systematic and certified experi- 

 ment as to what breeds and species will be fertile 

 inter se, and with what results. The passage is too 

 long to quote, but is exceedingly good, and through- 

 out involves belief in a very considerable amount of 

 modification in the course of successive generations. I 

 may give the following as an example : — 



" We do not know whether or no the zebra would 

 breed with the horse or ass — whether the large-tailed 

 Barbary sheep would be fertile if crossed with our own 

 — whether the chamois is not a wild goat ; and whether 

 it would not form an intermediate breed if crossed with 

 our domesticated goats; we do not know whether the 

 differences between apes are really specific, or whether 

 apes are not like dogs, one single species, of which there 

 are many different breeds. . . . Our ignorance con- 

 cerning all these facts is almost inevitable, as the expe- 

 riments which would decide them require more time, 

 pains, and money than can be spared from the life and 

 * Dr. Darwin, ' Zoonomia,' Tol. i. p. 186. 



