to the amalgamation of species; but it is exhibited in different ways. Sometimes the antipathy is so potent as to amount to an entire prohibition, as we have seen in the cases of the cow and the buffalo, the barbarousa and the wild boar, the peccary and the wild hog, when in their nativestate; and the dog and the wolf, the dog and the fox, and the hare and the rabbit, even when domesticated. At other times the antipathy is partially subdued-in a few instances out of many-by association, as the rare cases of marriages between a white person and a negro. And here every one of us must have been witnesses of the almost universal feeling of abhorrence of the community disgraced by such an outrage; often followed by an outbreak. That this is the effect of the natural feeling. we have described, we rely upon Professor Samuel G. Morton, who tells us that it is not only proverbial among all European nations, but it is evinced by Africans in their own country; and upon Duncan, who, in his travels in Western Africa, relates several instances of the negresses running away in apparent fright and disgust at the sight of a white man.

At other times this natural abhorrence is overcome, either by domestication alone, or by domestication aided by the artifices of man, as in thecase with the jackass and the mare. In like manner, nature makes known her non-conformity to this mixture in various ways. Sometimes the issue is absolutely sterile; at others the product is so mal-conformed that it cannot survive the period of lactation, as was the case with both the foals of Mr. Kilby's mule. Now the progeny are capable of being continued, but only by new drafts or supplies from the pure breeds from which it sprung, as was the issue of the sheep and the goat mentioned by Bellchambers. Then the progeny multiply among themselves for two or three generations only, and even during that time show no constancy of character, as mentioned by Van Amringe, (in Natural History of Man, p. 429,) who says: "We have devoted much attention to this subject, have examined a number of mulatto families, and are satisfied that the children seldom exhibit the medium color of the parents;" and in a subsequent page, (431,) he adds, that "in large families of mulattoes, (of half-blood parents,) it is quite common to find several of the children as light-colored as if one parent was white, and another portion of the children as black as if one parent was a pure negro." All these different phases speak in different languages, but they all proclaim the same sentiment of natural abhorrence to the amalgamation of species; while by the connexion of two individuals belonging to the same species, the stock is uniform, permanent, indestructible, and ineffaceable; no change of time, food, climate, nor circumstances can materially alter it, much less sweep it away; as witness the cases of the Jews and Gipsies, whose races have outlived the records of the most ancient history. "It is by the exclusion of all foreign mixtures," says Humboldt, "that species are preserved." And even Dr. Prichard, who has shown such anxiety to reduce the white man and the negro to the same category, tells us, (in Researches, &c., vol. 2, p. 341,) that "separate species of organized beings do not pass into each other by insensible degrees. What Van Amringe has remarked in regard to the variation of the color of the skin of the children of mulattoes, we have found to correspond in the diversity in the organization of the pile, which, sometimes corresponding with that of one parent, and at others with that of the other parent, and at others still resembling the pile of both in different filaments, furnishes ample proof that there does not exist that

joint inheritance of the characteristics of both parents, so remarkable where the progeny are derived entirely from one species. This experience ought to serve as a warning to the American sheep-breeder, whose object is to produce a race enjoying equally the good qualities of both parents. The natural disgust implanted in the minds of all animals to the mixture of species seems to have been wisely pre-ordained in order to preserve the purity and beauty of creation. By the formation of species, order was proclaimed; but it can be maintained by this natural feeling alone. Without such a feeling, the harmony of species throughout the immense varieties of created beings, which now people and beautify the earth, the air, and the sea, would be utterly destroyed, and the whole animal commonwealth would be converted into a disgusting assemblage of unsightly monsters. God has wisely and kindly given to each species of animals the intelligence, the instinct, and the organs exactly fitted for its respective station; but, by such a general amalgamation, his wisdom and kindness would be rendered entirely abortive, and his designs for the happiness of his creatures annulled. Organs would be taken away from animals to which they are invaluable, and conferred upon others to which they would be an incumbrance. Propensities which are the happiness of one species would be torn from them, to be possessed by another to make them miserable. It is no objection to our position that such crosses are sometimes allowed to be productive to a limited extent; for after the lapse of a few generations the progeny either pass over to the side of one or other of the progenitors, and the abnormal race is thus expunged forever from that polluted page of the fair volume of nature; or the breed, from the natural defect caused by this very amalgamation, runs out entirely, and is thus eventually lost. Every practising physician has had occasion to remark how much more mulattoes are liable to scrofulous and phthisical diseases, and similar wasting complaints, than either the whites or blacks, from whom they are descended; and we have no doubt but that the same law holds in regard to sheep when species are amalgamated. Now, this is destructive to the permanency of stock, which is one great object of the American farmer to insure. It little suits his purpose, after having paid for a high-priced ram, to have all his hopes of a stock blasted by an unwise crossing. It is true that, by a repetition of the same causes-that is to say, by similar amalgamations-new hybrids may sometimes be continually produced, as in the case of mulattoes and mules; but they are subject to the same laws of destruction, and are doomed to the same premature decay and demolition. "With the cessation of the supply of European blood, (says Dr. Knox,) the mulatto of all shades must cease. He cannot extend his race, for he has no race-there is no place for him in nature." And Colonel Smith (in Natural History of Man, page 119) says: "We doubt exceedingly if a mulatto family does exist in any part of the tropics continued to the fourth generation from any one stock-perhaps there is not one, even in five generations, of positive mulattoes, but that all actually require, for continuity at least, a long previous succession of foreign influences-of white, or negro, or mestizo, or quadroon, or sambo, or native Indian, or Malay blood-before the sinew and substance of a durable intermediate race can be reared." Then how can the American sheep breeder reasonably expect, by crossing a Saxon ram with a common country ewe, to obtain a stock of merino sheep? We

know that sometimes hybrids are purposely produced, on account of an individual peculiarity which (notwithstanding their evanescent character) renders them, in some respects, more valuable than either of their progenitors. This is the case of the mule. But the same reason does not exist for producing the hybrid sheep, which possesses no such peculiarity, and is esteemed only in proportion to its similarity to its progenitor. In page 120, Colonel Smith says that "war and slavery are the elements of amalgamation, where mixed races spring up and are maintained until the impure fall a prey to the pure races the former falling before the victors until they are exterminated, absorbed, and perish by a kind of decreasing vitality, and are entirely obliterated." From hastily reading the passage last cited, the reader might, perhaps, be led to infer that, in the end, no injury is done to the pure races, which are represented as swallowing up the impure ones; but this author adds: "Yet this apparent obliteration must ever affect subsequent forms and mental condition in the victors, which the physiologist ought to bear in mind when known, or indicate when only suspected." Therefore, let no American sheepbreeder flatter himself with the hope or expectation that by breeding towards a superior race he will ever be able entirely to obliterate the defects of an inferior one; if he does so, he will find, to his cost, a discomfiture-and that, perhaps, when he least expects it-that the obliteration is not real, but apparent, and that he has entailed a stigma upon his stock which no art nor time can wholly eradicate. In page 214, Col. Smith explains some of the names of hybrids from the crossing of white and black persons. He says: "A black and a white make a mulatto; a mulatto and a white make a quadroon; a quadroon and a white a mestee; a mestee and a white a while." But what kind of white is thus manufactured out of black and white? He tells us, "But this last has black and curly hair; nails dark and ill shaped; feet badly formed, and much of the negro propensities." Now, Colonel Smith may call this a white if he chooses, but we would be very much afraid of marrying such a white, for fear of finding ourselves some day blessed with a black heir; * and we think that, arguing from analogy, it would not be hazarding too much to predict, that if the (so called) full Saxon sheep we read and hear of, manufactured by breeding from an impure to a pure race, were critically examined, the vestiges of their impurity would be found stilllurking in their veins.

*Our learned friend, William F. Van Amringe, to whom we loaned the MS. of this chapter, returned it with the following valuable note: "Black Heir.-This unfortunate circumstance happened recently in A gentleman of high respectability married a beautiful girl, whose first child was a negro! The fidelity of the wife was beyond suspicion; but, on investigation, it was discovered that her grandfather, or great grandfather, was a negro. Dr. White, a wealthy, educated physician, formerly of Dutchess county, in this State, [New York,] became possessed of a full-blooded Ayrshire cow, which, about 20 years ago, he put to a fullblooded Durham white bull. Subsequently, he bred continually in-and-in towards the cow, and boasted that he was practically disproving the decline of constitutional impairment by in-and-in breeding, notwithstanding my prediction that it would ultimately fail. It was remarkable, that for many years-say 12 or 15-the progeny uniformly leaned towards the cow, whose color and type were frequently reproduced; during which the color and type of the bull did not appear. Suddenly, a few years ago, the color and type of the bull exhibited themselves; and from that moment the impairment of constitution became manifest, and the extinction of the stock hastened. From this remarkable example I infer, that in crosses, so long as the constitutional energy of either parent predominates over that of the less vigorous parent, and manifests itself in the constitution of the progeny, propagation will continue; but the moment the constitutional energy of the predominating parent becomes reduced, to admit the alteration of the constitution of the less vigorous parent, the rapid extinction of the race is indicated."

It is not in the nature of things that adding to impurity begets purity. Gold added to copper never yet made pure gold; nor will pure blood added to impure make pure blood! "It is a law of nature (says Agassiz) that animals as well as plants are preceded by individuals of the same species only, and reproduction in animals is almost universally accomplished by an association of individuals of two kinds or sexes, male and female." But those who contend for the breeding we are now calling in question act upon the principle that one kind only can accomplish the reproduction-not only so, but they act upon the principle that they can select which of the two kinds (sexes) shall perpetuate its like; for if it is left to nature, and she selects the impure kind, then they admit that the stock is irretrievably destroyed. The law of species is so clearly laid down by Professor Wagner that we cannot withstand the temptation of transcribing a part of his essay: "Plants produced from different varieties of the same species are fertile; while hybrids either revert to the original character or become gradually less capable of reproduction, and within a few generations become entirely extinct." Doctor Prichard copies this passage into his Natural History of Man, followed by the remark that the same law prevails in the animal kingdom," and Van Amringe confirms the opinion in the most unqualified manner. So you perceive that it is the acknowledged law of GoD, who has conferred on man, and other animals, the power of producing others of their kind, and of thus perpetuating their species, but not of forming a new race. "And God made the beasts of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind; and God saw that it was good." The word kind, here found repeated, corresponds with the term species. Thus it appears that God saw that it was good to create all animals in species. It is God's attribute to create-man's to mar and destroy! Such artificial varieties as we have been condemning are natural deformities. Specific uniformity is beauty, and belongs to nature-emanates from her laws, and is the work of her hands. Every deviation from nature's type must necessarily be a deformity. It is one which she (if left to herself) will throw off-cast from her, as unworthy of support; but if the deviation is persisted in, it terminates in chaos. As sometimes it is allowed to argue from extremes, let us suppose, for a moment, that nature were to resign the reins of creation to man, what a picture would soon be presented: cows rioting in blood, while lions and tigers were grazing and chewing the cud; fishes clambering up trees, or building and inhabiting three-story brick houses; turkeys in uniform, strutting at the head of regiments of geese and fowls; hogs dressed in brocades and adorned with pearls and diamonds; while woman-lovely woman-is grunting Italian airs as she lies wallowing in mire!

And lastly, we must anticipate an objection which may, possibly, be made to our two-fold division of sheep into the hairy sheep and the woolly sheep-viz: that there are sheep which are covered with both hair and wool. Now, suppose our opponents were able to demonstrate that these sheep belonged to a third species. This would, by no means, invalidate the position we have advanced. But we believe that the true answer to such an objection would be, that the hairy and woolly sheep are hybrids; like the mulatto, before noticed, exhibiting integuments bequeathed, respectively, by both their progenitors. It has been said that sheep

taken from one climate to another will partly change their coats-portions of the hair of some falling out and being replaced by wool, and portions of the wool of others falling out and being replaced by hair; for no one in his senses would contend that a single filament of either of these integuments can be transformed into the other.* Now, this change of coat never happens to either the pure hairy sheep or the pure woolly sheep, but is a condition of those hybrids which have already hair and wool. From all which we are decidedly of opinion that the American sheepbreeder-whose object is to lay the foundation of a permanent self-producing stock, (or, if he will, of two such stocks,) inheriting, respectively and equally, the good qualities of both their parents-should abstain from mingling together the hairy sheep and the woolly sheep. He ought to do so as a means of prudence, were it only that he incurred the risk of injuring the flock a multo fortiori, after we have positively proved that such crosses are unmitigated evils.

Are crosses of hairy and woolly sheep recommended to save expense of outfit? No outlay of capital can justly be considered as extravagant which has for its object to preserve a permanent purity of stock. Is it to save time? It is time lost, and not time saved, to commence by such abnormal crossing. When an architect is about to erect a noble superstructure, which may last for generations, he commences by laying a perfectly solid foundation, regardless of a moderate expenditure of time and money. The breeding and raising of sheep, and the producing of fleece, promise to be, in this country, a great and important undertaking. Let us not injure it by a hasty and inoperative plan of breeding.

We hope it will not be inferred from anything urged in this essay that we advocate breeding in-and-in. All that we contend for is, that the breeding shall be confined to the species, not to families.

In the preceding pages we have demonstrated that, where animals are of different species, (as we have shown the hairy sheep and the woolly sheep to be,) it is impossible by their amalgamation to produce a permanent, self-supporting race, possessing equally the properties of both parents. We now propose to prove that, even when they are not of two species, but of only different varieties of the same species, all attempts to produce such a race are abortive.

"Varieties, (says Dr. Bachman,) once formed, may produce other varieties, or they may sink into degeneracy and perish; but they CANNOT AGAIN BE BROUGHT BACK TO THE RACES FROM WHICH THEY ORIGINATED." Then the American farmer who crosses the merino or Saxon-merino blood with the common country sheep-because somebody has told him that they are varieties only of the same species of animal, and that, by constantly breeding their issue towards the merino or Saxon-merino, he may, in a few generations, extinguish the blood of the common country race-will find himself still wide of his mark; he has forsaken the direct road, which would have surely brought him to the desired goal, for a crooked and uncertain path, in which all his labor will be unsuccessful.

Nothing can be more explicit to this point than the above quotation from Dr. Bachman, unless it be his concluding remark, viz: "No BREED OF COWS, SWINE, OR BIRDS, HAVE EVER REVERTED TO THE ORIGINAL FORMS."

And it is certain that he would not have hesitated to have included sheep

*Mr. Latham (in Natural History of Man, page 62) speaks of the hair changing; but his views are not explained.