168 
COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 
The conditions of success are, first and last, obedience to 
physiological lav ), and may be classed under two heads: 
U Physiological Breeding. —Here is a subject which 
was once full of difficulty; nor is it yet fully settled in all its 
important details. Its investigation involves careful and tho¬ 
rough research into the intricate and only partially explicable 
nature of the physical and mental forces of the animal, and es¬ 
pecially the laws of reproduction, which, by reason of their 
very nature are most difficult to be understood. 
Nevertheless, some definiteness has been arrived at after 
centuries of observation, so that certain rules may be laid 
down, obedience to which will generally result in success. 
The first great law, and that which appears to be universal, 
applying equally to the animal and vegetable creation, has 
appropriate expression in the aphorism, “like produces like.” 
Each produces offspring “ after its own kind and this is true 
not only of genera and species, but also true of individuals. 
Hence the theory of hereditariness — that peculiarities are 
transmissable from sire to son. But not only is this a law of 
certain leading, permanent types of character, but also of tem¬ 
porary influences and impressions; so that the “ iniquities of 
the father are visited upon his children to the third and fourth 
generation ;” not only so, but these effects may, and do, under 
favorable circumstances, become developed into permanent char¬ 
acteristics ; so emphatic is the imprint of the parent upon the 
offspring. 
Thus it is that character is often so modified, that the ori¬ 
ginal traits are lost sight of for a long time, not appearing again 
until after several generations. 
It is not necessary that I should specialize upon this point, 
instances will occur to every one, in which such modifications, 
both mental and physical, have been made. 
On the other hand, it must not be forgotten that leading 
types are permanent. Take, for example, the races of men ; 
subject them to as many new circumstances as you please, and 
intermix them so thoroughly that you would expect, after a few 
