A general treatise on cattle, the ox, the sheep, and the swine / by John Lawrence.

  • Lawrence, John, 1753-1839.
Date:
1809
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A general treatise on cattle, the ox, the sheep, and the swine / by John Lawrence. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    any property, not alien to their genus: as a general rule, subject to exceptions, the young resemble their parents in form and properties, in the common phrase, like produces like. The ancients supposed, that in the communication of qualities most depended upon the dam, an idea which seems to be reversed by mo- dern speculators; it is, according to my experience, a matter of much uncertainty. By improvement of the breed of animals is meant the gradual change of form and property, in their progeny, until they shall arrive, as nearly as possible, to a certain standard of presumed perfection. This is to be effected on the principle of like producing like by a conjunction of male and female, of the desired species, form and properties, some steps or points being gained in every procreation. The male, of course, being able to multiply likeness to such an extent, must be the prime instrument in the business j it is therefore of the utmost consequence that he be tho- roughbred or thorough-shaped, and the female ought to be selected with the strictest care, since, although her qualities cannot be considered of so great conse- quence as those of the male, her likeness being re- stricted to an individual or two, yet, it must not be forgotten, that perfection is not to be attained, but from perfection on both sides: in this particular, the common breeders are very liable to err, confining their attention usually to the male. Nothing can be more groundless than the notion ' that all breed goes in at tne mouth/ inferring that all excellence depends on keep. It would be equally rational to say, that size and form depend on food. No fact can be better established than the reality of specific properties, and the superiority of one breed over another, of which fact a more complete proof was never exhibited, than by the comparison of the ♦