Chap. XII. INHEKITANCE. 447 



answer, might ask what would be the chance of winning a 

 prize if two inferior animals were paired together ? They 

 might ask whether the half-wild Arabs were led by theoreti- 

 cal notions to keep pedigrees of their horses? Why have 

 pedigrees been scrupulously kept and published of the Short- 

 horn cattle, and more recently of the Hereford breed ? Is it 

 in illusion that these recently improved animals safely trans- 

 mit their excellent qualities even when crossed with other 

 breeds ? have the Shorthorns, without good reason, been 

 purchased at immense prices and exported to almost every 

 quarter of the globe, a thousand guineas having been given 

 for a bull ? "With greyhounds pedigrees have likewise been 

 kept, and the names of such dogs, as Snowball, Major, &c, 

 are as well known to coursers as those of Eclipse and Herod 

 on the turf. Even with the Gamecock, pedigrees of famous 

 strains were formerly kept, and extended back for a century. 

 With pigs, the Yorkshire and Cumberland breeders " preserve 

 and print pedigrees ;" and to show how such highly-bred 

 animals are valued, I may mention that Mr. Brown, who 

 won all the first prizes for small breeds at Birmingham in 

 1850, sold a young sow and boar of his breed to Lord Ducie 

 for 43 guineas ; the sow alone was afterwards sold to the 

 Bev. F. Thursby for 65 guineas; who writes, "She paid me 

 very well, having sold her produce for 300Z., and having now 

 four breeding sows from her." 3 Hard cash paid down, over 

 and over again, is an excellent test of inherited superiority. 

 In fact, the whole art of breeding, from which such great 

 results have been attained during the present century, depends 

 on the inheritance of each small detail of structure. But 

 inheritance is noc certain; for if it were, the breeder's art 4 

 would be reduced to a certainty, and there would be little 

 scope left for that w r onderful skill and perseverance shown by 

 the men who have left an enduring monument of their success 

 in the present state of our domesticated animals. 



It is hardly possible, within a moderate compass, to impress 



For greyhounds, see Low's ' Do- Mr. Sidney's edit, of ' Youatt, on the 



tnestic Animals of the British Islands,' Pig,' I860, pp. 11, 22. 



1845, p. 721. For game-fowls, see 4 'The Stud Farm,' by Cecil, p 



' The Poultry Book,' by Mr. Teget- 39. 

 meier, 1886, p. 123. For pigs, see 



