ON BREEDING. 
389 
nally placed each in a particular region; but by removing to dif¬ 
ferent parts of the world, they have been so modified, and have 
derived so many adventitious qualities, that their original cha¬ 
racters have been almost entirely obliterated. This has con¬ 
verted the spirit, sagacity, and animation of the ass, to dulness 
and indolence; the strength, spirit, and courage of the sheep, 
to mildness and cowardliness; the rapacious and devouring dog, 
into a servile and parasitical slave; and the interesting, noble and 
animated Arabian, into a dull, stupid, and sluggish cart-horse : 
the latter displaying a general dulness in the external senses, 
whilst the former shows that pre-eminence, both in mental and 
physical endowments, so characteristic of the Eastern breed. 
From these considerations, it appears very plain, that there are 
causes sufficiently powerful to produce at a very early period of 
life an unchangeable predisposition to a certain temperament. 
Not that a complete change can be produced from a phlegmatic 
to a sanguine habit, but it may be considerably modified. 
From entering minutely into this interesting subject, we are 
as much prevented by want of the necessary information, as by 
the immediate nature of our subject; we shall therefore submit a 
few examples to illustrate our position as far as the subject of 
“ breeding” is concerned, and leave it to others for a further prose¬ 
cution of the enquiry. 
The ass in his native wild state is exceedingly swift and active, 
and has continued so in his Eastern abode : 
“ Through the wide waste, his ample mansion, roam, 
And lose himself in his unbounded home ; 
By Nature’s hand magnificently fed, 
His meal is on the range of mountains spread; 
As in pure air aloft lie bounds along, 
He sees in distant smoke the city throng; 
Conscious of freedom, scorns the smother’d train, 
The threatening driver, and the servile rein;” 
whilst in our clime he is characterised by his dull, sluggish, and 
obstinate temper. The camel and dromedary are capable of the 
most extraordinary exertions in their native land, but those that 
are brought to England have a dull and sluggish appearance, 
and become so exceedingly slow, as to require the whip to make 
them travel from four to five miles an hour. 
What a difference do we perceive between our domesticated ox 
and the bisons of the old world, the original stock of our tame 
cattle ! The domesticated cattle in the southern provinces of Asia 
and Africa have degenerated the least from the original form ; 
for, at the present time, in the stateliness of their gait and beauty 
