THE CEOSSING, 4C, Or PIQS. 293 



in the elaboration of his synthesis, seems to have been, 

 that man, however heterodox he may be, is not, — can- 

 not be, — content with disbelief alone ; he needs a com- 

 plimentary belief, and is ever ready to believe anything 

 and everything (however absurd) which harmonizes 

 with his disbelief. Very, very few have ever read 

 Spencer's works; yet every man of "liberal" ideas, 

 swears by them. 



To return to the sow: Darwin says (p. 151, Vol. ii, 

 Animals and Plants, &c): 



"Nathusius gives an analagous, and even more 

 striking case ; he imported, from England, a pregnant 

 sow, of the large Yorkshire breed, and bred the pro- 

 duct closely in-and-in, for three generations ; the result 

 was unfavorable, as the young were weak in constitu- 

 tion, with impaired fertility. One of the latest sows, 

 which he esteemed a good animal, produced, when 

 paired with her own uncle (who was known to be pro- 

 ductive with sows of other breeds), a litter of six, and a 

 second time, a litter of only five weak, young pigs. 

 He then paired this sow with a boar of a small, black 

 breed, which he had likewise imported, and which boaf , 

 when matched with sows of his own breed, produced 

 from seven to nine young ; now, the sow, of the large 

 breed, which was so unproductive when paired with 

 her own uncle, yielded to the small black boar, in the 

 first litter, twenty-one, and in the second litter, eighteen 

 young pigs ; so that, in one year, she produced thirty- 

 nine fine, young animals." 



The reason was : from the boar, of her own kind, 

 she received a male, sexual element, impressed with 

 the force of the few characters only, which she herself 

 had ; while, from the strange boar, which most probably 



