These
descriptions are the parts which Buffon intended for the general reader,
expecting, doubtless, and desiring that such a reader should skip the dry
parts he had been addressing to the more studious. It is true the
descriptions are written _ad captandum_, as are all great works, but they
succeed in captivating, having been composed with all the pains a man of
genius and of great perseverance could bestow upon them. If I am not
mistaken, he looked to these parts of his work to keep the whole alive
till the time should come when the philosophical side of his writings
should be understood and appreciated.
Thus the goat breeds with the sheep, and may therefore serve as the text
for a dissertation on hybridism, which is accordingly given in the
preface to this animal. The presence of rudimentary organs under a pig's
hoof suggests an attack upon the doctrine of final causes in so far as it
is pretended that every part of every animal or plant was specially
designed with a view to the wants of the animal or plant itself, once and
forever throughout all time. The dog with his great variety of breeds
gives an opportunity for an article on the formation of breeds and sub-
breeds by man's artificial selection. The cat is not honoured with any
philosophical reflection, and comes in for nothing but abuse. The hare
suggests the rabbit, and the rabbit is a rapid breeder, although the hare
is an unusually slow one; but this is near enough, so the hare shall
serve us for the theme of a discourse on the geometrical ratio of
increase and the balance of power which may be observed in nature.
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