Report on the Exhibition of Live-Stock at Derby, b7S 
Jersey and Guernsey, 
Those who may be given to philosophy always have an 
infinity of matter for reflection and speculation among the 
animals in a Showyard. One point especially worthy of deep 
reflection as well as of admiration, is the wonderful manner 
in which each breed of different kinds of animals has been 
stamped with distinct features and attributes by the influence of 
man, to suit his varied requirements and the peculiar neces- 
sities of soil, climate, and locality. The dominion of man over 
the beasts of the field is fully illustrated by the results of his 
plastic hand upon their forms, of his volition upon their habits 
and constitution, and upon their very natures. It almost passes 
belief that the numerous breeds of cattle seen in our Showyards, 
for example, the stately Shorthorn and the dwarfed Kerry, the 
brindled Longhorn and the red polled Norfolk, could have 
sprung, as Darwin and other authorities state, from two arche- 
typal species.* The difference between the "mild-eyed" Jersey 
and the aboriginal Bos primigenius, or Bos frontosus, is wide 
and broad, and one can only exclaim, Quantum mutatus ab illo 
Hectore, and marvel at the effect of natural selection in the first 
place, in gradually evolving different varieties from a common 
origin, adapted to surrounding conditions and circumstances. 
The formation of new varieties, or the alteration and improve- 
ment of varieties, by methodical selection, is a comparatively 
rapid process, and has only been practised, or acknowledged to- 
be a systematic practice, in comparatively recent times. Yet 
natural selection has been assisted since the appearance of man 
upon the scene, as Darwin suggests, by an instinctive tendency 
to preserve the fittest among domesticated animals. The saga- 
city and energy of such men as Bakewell, Collings, Bates, 
Booth, Ellman, Druce, and others within the last hundred 
and fifty years, have formed a methodical system, approaching 
to the rank of a science, by which the character of the live-stock 
of this country has been completely changed. In time, no 
doubt, clear rules and formulas, prescribed with scientific accu- 
racy, and compiled from the practical work of agriculturists, 
will be forthcoming, and reduce the chances of breeding to a 
mathematical certainty. It would be vastly interesting, and of 
immense utility, to have an exact definition of the processes 
which in seventy years produced such a breed of sheep as the 
Shropshire Downs, or as the Oxfordshire Downs and Hamp- 
shires even in a shorter period, and which have, almost within 
the memory of individuals, turned some breeds of cattle, as the 
Shorthorns, into huge symmetrical mounds of meat ; and others, 
* ' The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication.' By Charles 
Darwin, M.A., F.R.S.,Jvol.j. p. 86. 
