512 
THE WHITE FOREST AND 
of climate, domesticity, feeding, &c. ; and, in addition to these, 
there may exist cross breeds maintained as such by the breeder. 
2d. — That we have not data sufficiently exact to determine the 
original breeds, and whether there be any in their original condi- 
tion; that is, quite pure. 
3d. — That the readiness with which these various breeds of 
cattle intermingle by cross breeding, producing animals seem- 
ingly productive, is no proof that all or even most of the breeds 
were originally but of one species ; for this many reasons might 
be given, with which I need not trouble you here. Let two of 
the now existing breeds be selected as an experiment — the short 
horned, for example, orTees Water, and the Shetland or Galloway 
— and I will venture to predict that the cross breed so produced 
will never maintain its ground for any length of time as a cross 
breed, but will return ultimately to one or other of the original 
breeds, or it will die out altogether. 1 am, of course, quite aware 
that this opinion is adverse to that of the most illustrious com- 
parative anatomist of modern times, Baron Cuvier ; that it is also 
contary to that of Mr. Low, and a host of modern observers ; but 
neither have my own ideas on this point been hastily taken up. 
In a country like this, so abounding with first-rate cattle, a 
strictly artificial breed may readily be maintained ; but this does 
not, by any means, prove the artificial to be a natural one. As 
an instance of what I considered an artificial breed of cattle in 
a certain sense, and to a certain extent, I instanced the wild ox 
itself, as he is now found in the great parks of Cadzow and of 
Tankerville ; for, admitting the fact, which I presume to be one, 
that every calf belonging to these herds which is “ off the mark- 
ings,” or, in plain language, which departs from the pure white 
or cream colour, considered by their proprietors as the standard 
of purity of the race, is destroyed ; if this be the fact, and I have 
no reason to doubt it, that such calves are immediately de- 
stroyed or withdrawn, so as not to be permitted to influence by 
breeding the supposed purity of the white breed, then it is quite 
evident that the white breed itself may be, and probably is, per- 
fectly artificial. 
With a view to determine this very point, namely, what is the 
natural colour, markings, and form of the herds of Tankerville 
and of Cadzow, I proposed that these cattle should be allowed to 
breed freely, and that all the calves should be preserved for a 
considerable period, and allowed, whatever their markings might 
be, to breed freely with the others; thus their relation to the West 
Highland and other breeds might and would ultimately be dis- 
covered. Lastly, I hinted that the wild or white ox approached 
most nearly in the form of head, skeleton, and habits, to the West 
