AXIOMS FOR BREEDER'S USE. 255 



and dam, and also their sires and dams, &c., so, unless there is 

 much breeding in-and-in, it may he said that it is impossible 

 to foretell with absolute certainty what particular result will be 

 elicited. 



6. The first impregnation appears to produce some effect upon 

 the next and subsequent ones. It is therefore necessary to take 

 care that the effect of the cross in question is not neutralised by 

 a prior and bad impregnation. This fact has been so fully estab- 

 lished by Sir John Sebright and others that it is needless to go 

 into its proofs. 



By these general laws on the subject of breeding we must 

 be guided in the selection of the dog and bitch from which a 

 litter is to be obtained, always taking care that both are as far 

 as possible remarkable, not only for the bodily shape, but for the 

 qualities of the brain and nervous system which are desired. 

 Thus, in breeding the pointer, select a good-looking sire and dam 

 by all means, but also take care that they were good in the 

 field ; that is, that they possessed good noses, worked well, were 

 stout, and if they were also perfectly broken so much the better. 

 So, again, in breeding hounds, care must be taken that the animals 

 chosen are shaped as a hound should be ; but they should also 

 have as many of the good hunting qualities, and as few of the 

 vices of that kind of dog ; and if these points are not attended 

 to the result is not often good. 



To secure these several results the pedigrees of the dog and 

 bitch are carefully scanned by those who are particular in these 

 matters, because then assurance is given that the ancestors, as far 

 as they can be traced, possessed all those qualifications without 

 which their owners would not in all human probability retain 

 them. Hence a pointer, if proved to be descended from a dog 

 and bitch belonging to Lord Sefton, Lord Lichfield, or any well- 



