op pigs. 285 



Man thus contemptuously intimates his indifference 

 to the development of characters which do not sub- 

 serve his purposes ; yet, when grave evil waits upon 

 such neglect, Man shuts his eyes to the clear connection 

 between the two, and lulls his scientific instincts, by 

 pompously referring the strange phenomena to a " great 

 law of nature !" 



That the cause assigned by the theory of Reversion, 

 for the lessened fertility, and for the delicacy of consti- 

 tution of Pigs, is a true one, is placed beyond all doubt, 

 by the fact, before alluded to, viz., that, with those in- 

 dividuals of the species, under nature, and with those 

 individuals of which little or no care is taken, there is 

 very little evil entailed; and, that little is developed, 

 only after many generations of the closest interbreed- 

 ing. The reason lies in the circumstance, that, in the 

 individuals under nature, and in those individuals which 

 are little cared for, those characters are developed, which 

 man either directly, or indirectly suppresses when he 

 superintends the breeding of the animals. With Pigeons 

 and Fowls, as has been seen, the farther, also, that man 

 carries his care of the animals, the greater are the evils 

 of close-interbreeding. But the cases are not exactly 

 analogous. With Pigeons and Fowls, the reason why 

 physiological degeneration attends the highly bred 

 breeds, is generally because, in each such variety, the 

 major portion of the characters become relatively re- 

 duced, by the exclusive development of the peculiarity, 

 of the breed, — which peculiarity is ever being carried 

 to an "extreme point." With the Pig, however, the re- 

 duction, in many of the characters, is not only relative 

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