she is to bear a part on the harp: she will, from her paternal bias, affect the conversation and correspondence of learned Doctors and scientific Professors, while at the same time, from her mother's feelings, she will dote on a military feather or an embroidered coat. It must be allowed that these beings are not more amiable than the stock from which they are derived, yet I contend they are in a state of greater improveability: the next generation, with common care shewn in the culture and marriage of them, shall produce a male, whose only prominent defect shall be a violent fondness for black-letter, or a female who shall be exceptionable only on the score of a slight inclination towards snuff and slovenliness. And in the third generation, I have strong hopes that we should have produced for us a judicious man and a reasonable woman.-Without tiring my readers' patience, it will be easy to see that similar results, mutatis mutandis, will accrue from the union of a Beau and an ill-mannered but studious Shrew.—I do not say that this good effect shall always result precisely at the period of the third ingrafting; the experiment may fail for want of a judicious selection of materials in the second or third stage of the process, or from a want of due and equal affinity between the objects selected: but even with these drawbacks, I feel a confidence that the fifth or sixth generation will certainly realize my expectations. And should the plan fail as to its ulterior objects,-I mean, of making sensible men and women,-it may give rise to some collateral advantage, such as infusing gentility into families who seem inherently defective in this particular: this is, indeed, an object quite unworthy of the sole attention of a philosopher, yet such an one as in the present state of the world no philosopher would altogether neglect. It will be expected, perhaps, that I should give some of the grounds on which I rest my presumptions of success. I might here adduce the analogous instances of vegetables and animals; but I shall content myself with enumerating a few instances which have occurred under my own care and direction. As it is only ten or twelve years since I gave my attention to this topic, I shall not, perhaps, be allowed to speak undoubtingly of final success; but the reader shall judge from the specimens: they were all of my own selection. About twelve years ago, at my persuasion, for though I have had a large acquaintance with Members of both Houses, I have not been able to procure legislative authority for my proposal, at my persuasion, then, Nugaculus was induced to marry a woman of ill-manners, worse temper, and a tasteless bookworm. Some people * The Letters of a literary Lady not long deceased form some clue to the character here described. people, indeed, hinted that the Beau was influenced by £20,000, and the rank of the lady's family. This, however, is not to my purpose: they were married, and in due process of time a child was born, whose growth I have sedulously watched. The boy then evinces, like his father, a considerable fondness for fine. equipages; nor is he entirely free from his mother's appetite for books, though with a sort of division of bias he reads no books that have not plates, or that do not treat of grandeur and fashion. His maternal acerbity is mitigated by the affected gentleness of his Beau-parent; and a violent desire to be rude and insolent, is corrected, and will in time be annihilated, by the yawny simpering of his father, which is an utter foe to energic expression. He is certainly fondest of the company of people extravagantly dressed; but he endures me, and once when I had a new waistcoat on he sate by me for several minutes. Upon the whole, I consider him as a promising subject. Another instance is Venustulilla,* who, partly by my persua sion and partly by the loss of a fortune, married a dignitary in the Church, who has composed seven folio volumes, and whose manners had rendered him nearly inaccessible. The offspring of this union is a girl about six years old: she can already sing a French song, and knows three movements of a waltz; while her father has given her such a knowledge of Hebrew, that she can already discern a Jew from a Christian by his voice and beard. Her temper is violent, but not without her mother's good-humour; and though inclined to be dirty, from her father's treatment, she yet shews a strong disposition towards finery. I could mention several other instances equally promising; but as some modern writer has said, who was put into my hands by a Belle, When one's proofs are aptly chosen, Two are as valid as two dozen," I shall merely mention the case of that pert baggage whom I before described as having made an impression on me, till her levity effaced it. About two years ago she was united to a Scholar and a brute, and really made a tolerable wife,-till the husband went mad, from an unsuccessful attempt to shew that Adam and Eve spoke the language of the Hottentots. One child has been born, who was at first a great favourite with me, and who, indeed, seemed particularly and wonderfully delighted with my presence; but the cause of this I found to be, that the mischievous, impudent baggage of a mother, amused the child in my absence * My friend adopts very queer names, but something must be allowed to the conceit of scholarship. + Prior. absence with a striking caricature of my person as a perpétual plaything, and the child was pleased with me as the ridiculous prototype. This argued so much quickness that I forgave the child; but the minx* of a mother,-no,-I will not forgive her; she is incorrigible and unworthy of my notice. Such is the plan which I propose for the consideration of legislators, a plan which, at little expence of trouble and no hazard, will render useful a large proportion of the community, who seem at present to offer no one conceivable benefit to society,-a plan founded on the analogies of nature, and built up on the experience of one who has been no careless observer of men and manners. So ends my friend's scheme, on which I shall not offer one word of comment, but shall leave it to the mercy of your readers; and at some future time, should there be any call for such specuJations, or should the legislature take my friend's hint, I may, perhaps, give to the public another of his bequeathed projects. Yours, Mr. Reflector, T. B. ART. XVII.-On the Change of Structure induced on Animals by Domestication. PART I. THE causes that operate those changes of structure and habits which distinguish domesticated animals from their species in a state of nature, have hitherto been little elucidated by the researches of Naturalists, although in a physiological sense, and even in an economical point of view, few investigations are of greater importance. The external figure and peculiar natural habits of animals, are subjects on which Zoologists have bestowed particular and successful attention. From the observation of minute distinctions, an artificial classification has been made, by which the numerously diversified productions of nature have been reduced from a state of unsettled alliance to systematic order. The immortal Linnæus, like a second Adam, has assigned name and place to every animated being which has hitherto been discovered; but his unri, vailed My friend was certainly deeply smitten, and died just in time to save his credit, for he would evidently have made himself a complete dupe ta this woman. valled perseverance and knowledge have only pointed the way to more complete information. He has arranged the vast museum of Nature, and placed every object in distinct view; but that the advantages of this mighty task, this compendious arrangement, may be applied to the immediate benefit of society, it yet remains that each object be individually studied. The adaptations of structure for security and convenience, in many classes of animals, are so obviously characterised, that they force themselves on the attention of the most superficial observer; but the origin of these adaptations has been variously accounted for. Most authors have assumed them as irrefragable evidences of the benevolence, justice, and impartial wisdom of the Creator; whilst others, with much plausible ingenuity, have attributed them to certain laws of organization, by the operation of which the form of the animal is supposed to be spontaneously accommodated to its peculiar necessities. Throughout Nature, the laws which regulate life seem to preserve an unvarying efficiency, so long as the animal retains its natural situation. The figure and propensities of the parent descend unaltered to the young. The same specific accommodations of structure, the same unimproved degree of sagacity, are the perpetual inheritance of each generation. But in almost every species which has long been subjected to the service of mankind, a change both in form and disposition has taken place, correspondent to the degree of subjection, the length of its duration, and the necessities imposed by it. After a certain lapse of time the colour, form, and disposition of the subjugated animal, have indicated by remarkable alterations the effect of a new influence: the regularity of nature has been broken through, and the change has been productive of incalculable varieties; so great, indeed, has been the deviation of many domestic animals from their state of nature, that their original stock have lost all natural means for security or defence, of these the Sheep is an example; others, on the contrary, have acquired new powers and superior sagacity. Similar changes have taken place in the Vegetable world: the farinaceous tribes, cauliflowers, &c. &c. have been so altered by cultivation, that Botanists are undecided from what natural stock they are derived. -But in this slight sketch I shall confine myself to Zoological subjects. From the observation of these great changes, some naturalists have inferred that every peculiarity of accommodation has been spontaneously induced by the necessities of the animal. The figure and anatomical structure of the Camel have been frequently adduced and insisted on in support of this conjecture. The ap parent parent external deformity of that extraordinary animal,—its`peculiar internal organization, so admirably adapted to its local circumstances, gave plausibility to the argument; but the conclusions deduced from these facts are evidently too general, and in a great measure fallacious. Other animals inhabiting the same regions, under an equal state of subjection and exposed to the same necessities, have not assumed similar accommodations:the hoof of the Arabian Horse still retains its horny texture: his neck is not lengthened to elevate his nostrils above the clouds of sand raised by his feet; and although compelled as often to endure extreme thirst, his stomach has not formed those reservoirs for water which supply the necessities of the patient traveller of the desart. Every similar instance in support of this hypothesis may be thus counterpoised and refuted; but the agitation of the question has been useful, inasmuch as it has shewn what great effects may be produced by artificial habits and culture, even on the anatomical structure of animals. Let us observe the changes thus induced on a single species. From amongst all the orders of Nature, the Dog seems to have been the most particularly selected to become the humble friend and faithful auxiliary of man; and perhaps no animal offers so striking an example of altered structure and assumed qualities. The Lion scarcely differs more from the Weazel, than the gigantic, wire-haired Irish Staghound, from the diminutive, silken Shock-dog; or the bold, masculine Mastiff, from the slender, timid Italian Grey-hound.Indeed, whatever may have been the original, specific character of the Dog, its obscurity is a sufficient proof of the changes which have been induced on it. Destined to the service of man, and consequently to endure every vicissitude of climate and employment, great powers of accommodation must have been peculiarly Becessary, and were probably soon developed. In the early ages, when the produce of the chace supplied the chief means of subsistence, every hunter would train his Dog to the mode of hunt. ing indicated by the nature of the region he might inhabit. In champaign countries and warm climates, where it would be difficult to lay snares, and where the dryness of the soil would render the scent faint and imperfect, necessity would impose the method of coursing down the prey by sight, and the habit of hunting by smell being disused, the powers of that sense would decline; but superior speed and a finer coat would be the probable acquisitions. In forests, morasses, and mountainous regions, coursing by sight would be impracticable; but nets would be advantageously placed in the frequented tracts, and it would only be necessary to start the game from their concealments and drive them into the toils. This mode of hunting was adopted in the mountainous parts of Greece, |