tinct genus. If, therefore, it were desired to experimentalize fairly, with the view of
producing a prolific hybrid, the true horse should be coupled with the eq. hemonius in a
proper climate, and under favorable conditions. This experiment, as far as we know,
not having been properly tried, analogy warrants the suspension of a negative.
From the unlimited productiveness among the different races of horses, it has been
boldly inferred that all horses have sprung from a solitary pair, possessing a common
Mesopotamian origin, and therefore constituting a single species; but an assumption
without proof, while valid reasons support the contrary, may be summarily dismissed.
The elaborate and skilful researches of Hamilton Smith have thrown strong doubts
over this superannuated idea of equine unity. He separates horses into five primitive
stocks; which appear to constitute “ distinct though oscillating species, or at least
races, separated at so remote a period, that they claim to have' been divided from the
earliest times of our present zoology.” 397 So true is this, that already two distinct
species, if not more, of fossil horses exist in geological formations of this Continent,
independently of the others familiar in European palaeontology.393
About horses, Morton’s later MSS. enable us to quote the following textually: ■*—
“ After an elaborate and most instructive inquiry into the natural history of the
horse, Col. Hamilton Smith has arrived at the following conclusions, which we prefer
to give in his own words: * That there was a period when equidse of distinct forms, or
closely-approximating species, in races widely different, wandered in a wild state in
separate regions, the residue of an anterior animal distribution, perhaps upon the great
mountain line of Central Asia, where plateaux or table-lands, exceeding Armenian
Ararat in elevation, are still occupied by wild horses; that of these some races still
extant have been entirely subdued; such for example as the Tarpans, the Kirguise and
Pamere woolly white race, and the wild horses of Poland and Prussia; 'that from their
similarity, or antecedent unity, they were constituted so as to be fusible into a common,
single, specific, but very variable stock, for the purposes of man, under whose fostering
care a more perfect animal was bred from their mixture, than any of the preceding,
singly taken. These inferences appear to be supported by the ductility of all the
secondary characters of wild and domestic horses, which, if they are not admitted to
constitute in some cases specific differences, where are we to find those that are sufficient
to distinguish a wild from a domestic species ? And with regard to different,
though oscillating species, why should the conclusions be unsatisfactory in horses,
when in goats, sheep, wolves, dogs, and other species, we are forced to accede to
them ? ’ ” 3"
Some of these races still flourish in a wild state on the table-lands of Central Asia;
at the same time that all have united to form, in domestication, very mixed and variable
types.
A singular fact, which I have never seen noticed, is worthy of mention. The
thorough-bred race-horse is rarely, if ever, beheld of a cream, or a dun color, or piebald.
My attention, directed to this point for more than twenty years, as yet meets
with no example; nor, through inquiry among turf-men, have I been able to hear of a
single case where the pedigree was well authenticated. Horses of the above colors are
exceedingly common in the United Stat es far more so, as I know from personal observation,
than in England or France; and the only solution that occurs to me is, the
supposition that the early Spanish emigrants may have brought over to America some
breed of horses, distinct from the Arabian stock of England, or from any of the races
of France and Belgium.
“ When Caesar invaded Britain he found there a race Of indigenous ponies, with
bushy manes and tails, and of a dun or sooty color, with the black streak on the spine
which marks the wild races of northern Europe. This variety was known in a wild
state for centuries after, and in every part of the island. This horse was subsequently
amalgamated with the Roman and Saxon breeds, whence a great diversity of size and
color in our own times.«™ These native British horses were the ancestors of the ponies
now called S h e t l a n d , . Scottish, Galloway, and by various o t h e r names.” «1 •
Naturalists remark that those animals, such as the ass, the camel, the dromedary,
11jma &c.,upon which the most sensible reasons are based for alleging a community
of species’ do not run into those endless and extreme varieties observable in dogs,
horses, cattle, sheep, goats, or hogs.
B o v ine H y b r id s .
The ox tribe occupy, among naturalists, a position identical with that of the horse ;
many of our best authorities contending for plurality of species. The origin of our
varied domestic races is wholly unknown, and the domestication of cattle antedates the.
earliest Egyptian monuments, together with the writer of Genesis [i. 24, 25, 26,] himself.
The bison or American buffalo and our common cattle produce hybrid offspring
which is unprolific inter se; but these hybrids reproduce without limit when coupled
with the parent stocks ; and this again furnishes another undeniable degree in the history
of hybridity.
Ca pr in e a n d Ov in e H y b r id s .
The weight of authority, as victoriously proven by Dr. Morton, decidedly favors
plurality of species for our domestic goats and sheep. I shall not tax our readers with
the details of the discussion, which they can find in the Charleston Med. Journal402
(between his dispassionate science on the one hand, and the captious garrulity displayed
by dogmatism on the other) : but onè of the most note-worthy examples of a prolific
hybrid anywhere to be found in the range of natural history, must not be passed over;
viz. : the offspring of goats and sheep when coupled together. The goat and the sheep
being, not merely distinct species, but distinct genera, the example therefore becomes
the more precious, whilst its authenticity is irrefragable: sustaining, furthermore, the
authority of Buffon and Cuvier for the fertility of such hybrids, which are not only
■ fertile with thè parent stocks, but inter se.*03
Another instance of hybridity, not less curious, and perfectly
attested, is that of the deer and ram, quotèd hy Morton from C a r l K
H e l l e n iu s , published in the Memoirs of the Royal Swedish Academy
of Stockholm. After going through his experiments in detail, Hellenius
concludes with the following summary :
“ I have thus, from this pair (female dèer — cervus capriolws, and the male sheep — ovis
aries), obtained seven offsprings : viz.,
“ Four from the ram and deer — two of each Sex.
“ Two from the deer’s first hybrid male offspring, viz., by crossing this latter animal with
the Finland ewe ; anti by crossing this same male with the female offspring of the deer
and ram.
« One, a ewe, by pairing the Finland ewe with one of her own progeny, from the first
hybrid male derived from the deer and ram.”
Hellenius furthermore gives a copious narrative of the form, fleece,
and mixed habits of these animals, which were alive, healthy, and
vigorous, when the account was published, and may be so still.
It is clear, from this unmistakeable testimony of Hellenius, that a
.mixed race of deer and sheep might be readily produced and perpetuated
by bringing together many pairs ; precisely as is done daily with
the goats and sheep of Chili alluded to by the well-known naturalist
and academician, M. C h e v r e u l . Here we obtain a prolific hybrid