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VETERINARIAN. 
vol. iv. JANUARY, 1831. 
No. 37. 
ON BREEDING. 
' By Mr. Karkeek, of Truro. 
[Continued from vol. iii, p. 619.] 
Degenerare tamen, ni vis humana quotannis 
Maxima quaeque manu legeret. Virgil’s Gf.org ics. 
Yet have I seen the chosen seeds deceive, 
And o’er degenerate crops the peasant grieve : 
Save where slow patience, o’er and o’er again, 
Cull’d yearly one by one the largest grain. 
Nunquam aliud Natura, aliud sapientia dicit. Juv. 
Far wisdom ever echoes Nature’s voice. 
THERE is a restless endeavour in the human mind for dis¬ 
covery, which is wrought into the original frame of our nature, 
and exerts itself in all parts of the creation that are endued 
with thought or sense. This inclination, however, is oftentimes 
impelled beyond the limits of reason, which, instead of advancing 
the cause of the science it professes to teach, tends only to in¬ 
troduce confusion and error. 
A tendency of this sort has existed for a long time among 
many writers on breeding: we do not allude to those little 
faults which may be imputed to inadvertency, or to the imper¬ 
fections of human nature, but chiefly to those visionaries who 
“ rave and wrestle with great Nature's plan. ' 
In meliorating* our principal domestic animals, how r many 
different systems have been pursued ? One author strongly re¬ 
commends the in and in system; that is, by breeding from 
the nearest affinities: another highly censures this method, as 
being both morally and physically wrong*, and prefers crossing 
the blood, even if it be ol an inferior quality, rather than breed 
VOL. IV. b 
