other hybrids. But this rare fertility has. never been known
to become permanent. According t o : Professor Lindley, it
has never exceeded the third generation. The result of all
the observations which have been made upon this subject
is, as M. De Candolle has remarked, that “ all such intermediate
breeds tend incessantly to extinction, by the difficulties
which are opposed- to their reproduction. This explains the
rarity of their appearao ce, and reconciles the perm anencO which
is observed among the distinct species* o£ nature with the real
existence, often, however, exaggerated, of hybrid or temporary
tribfcs* which are thus reduced into the class of monstrous
productions.”
It Seems on the whole evident, all the departments of the
organized creation being considered, that the energy of propagation
is-very~d<3eoti?e in the union of different species, and
subsequently in the reproduction of hybrid animals or plants.
The result-of experiments has uniformly proved that if-such
a stock can be kept up for a few successive generations,; which
has only been done by a reunion with a pure breed, it has at
length disappeared, or has at least, ceased to exist as a
peculiar race.
Paragraph 2.-—
It may be worth while to compare with this conclusion the
well known results of crossing or intermixing varieties or
races differing from each other in colour and form, but 'still
belonging to the same species. Both horticulturists and those
who are engaged in breeding cattle and other domesticated
animals, are well aware of the advantages to be derived from
this resource; the former, in improving the varièties of fruit-
trees and other vegetable productions, and the latter, with
relation to breeds of- oxen, horses, sheep, swine, and dogs.
Mixed breeds are very'often produced superior in almost all
their physical qualities to the parent races, and particularly
with so much vigour of propagation* that they often gain
ground upon the older varieties, and gradually supersede them.
This one property of greater fecundity is often the particular
reason for the selection, and the circumstance which induces
agriculturists and the breeders of icattle to adopt new races in
preference to the old: ones. |
Paragraph 3.—Of miked human'races. ,
A question now offers itself to ourhonsideratioH with respect
to mixed rac'es*. in the human kind, whether they are, in the
phenomena of their propagation^ analogous: to hybrid productions
or to the blended offspring-of tribes* which are merely
varieties" of the^me^speciesi
^'Now'&he undoubted fact lé,' that all mixed races- of men are
remarkable for their tendency multiplication. The mén^of
• e©lour*or the1 mixed breed'between'the white Creoles and the
Negroes, are well known in’many; t>f the West3 Indian isles to
-increase rapidly*--dnd-this' chieflyby-family1 connexions among
'fthemselveS. ^HenCe there has resulted a particular caste ifo many
4plaéss*:so numerous and so-- rapidly1 gaining ground, as to give
ftfise to1 serious apprehensions -that they aie ■ destined^ to become
î, at length the dominant tribe • in* 'the - community.* In other
■ parts of the world, in -almost every example to which different
■ Varieties- {of>manbiMi are brought into sbciab relationS’hi-Ml
similar^ thdseof the Negroes arid Creoles, oL offeing^facilities
for intereburSo* similar results have taken placé! I shall h^e
•only point Out in arbrief ménnerrsome'few of these'Instafices
kwhich I shall have future occasion f©=* investigate, wherïcon-
fc'sidering the ethnography of particular countries and the phÿ-
■sibal history; of particular races'of mankind. In Africa there
I are several remarkable instances,'of a- similar description. The
■‘Criquas, or bastard Hottentots, the mixed rUee between the
Dutch colonists and the aborigines of South Africa, form on
* Partout injustemen ^réprouvés,” says M. Borj\de St. Vintept,,c£ les Mulâtres
ne manquent cependant pas fie cette beauté et de-cette intelligence qui résultent en
général du croisement des espèces et dès races. Les Nèjres portent envie à la supériorité
qu’ils prétende»*.s’arroger copÉme tenant des Blancs ; ceux-ci qui ne
trouvent pas qp’il soit criminèl ae les procréer, n’imaginent pas non plus qu’il soit
atroce de les dégrader, et c’est un trait déshonorant de l’histoire des Hommes d'espèce
Japetiqufe, que'des coûtâmes avouées autorisent dette inliunïàhite.”—Diet. Class
d’Hist. Nat. " 1