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Such I would indeed at once refer to St. Paul 1 Corinthians vi., 15, 16, "What know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh." All which serves to prove the truth of my case, and that Dr. McCaul was wrong every way; but not that "it is not the rite of marriage at all:" for God forbids immoral carnal intercourse; but the rites of marriage were instituted of God, as part and parcel of marriage, and are honourable among all men.
III. A third proof from Nature is the well-known fact, that if a mare breed a mule, and be afterwards used for ordinary breeding purposes, her progeny will all have the black line along the back and across the withers, or other characteristic peculiar to the donkey, the sire of the mule she had previously bred.
IV. A fourth proof from Nature is the fact, that in no kennel of hounds would the huntsman breed from a hound, however staunch and well bred, which had ever had a litter of puppies by a dog of another species. In well regulated hunting establishments such an incident could not occur; but the fact would be known that the puppies, however well bred the sire, would shew strong traces of that former dog of the other species. In gamekeepers' kennels such crosses, and the subsequent certain phenomena, are more likely to occur; and such men express such a well known phenomenon by their technical term "breeding back;" usually saying "she throws back." Verbum sapientibus!
Such having been thus proved to demonstration indisputably from Nature, I beg leave to submit, that the present terms of the Tables of Consanguinity and Affinity, should be changed to those of—
Consanguinity by Birth, and
Consanguinity by Marriage.
I have the honour to be.
Your obedient and very humble Servant,
THOMAS BERNEY,
Bracon Ash.
