SECRETARY'S REPORT. 83 



a red calf ultimately having horns will appear even from the polled 

 bull and cow ; but in general the calves will be of the same type 

 with the polled parents but with many points improved, and an 

 aptitude to fatten, to come earlier to maturity, &c., such as no one 

 of the pure polled or Aberdeenshire breed ever exhibited in this 

 country, or any other country, however well kept, previous to the 

 introduction of the Short-horn breed. The offspring of these breeds 

 thus improved, when bred from again, will exhibit many points 

 and qualities of excellence similar to the best crosses but retaining 

 much of the hardiness of the original stock, no mean consideration 

 for this changeable and often severe climate. And, moreover, 

 such crosses, — for they are crosses — will command high prices as 

 improved polled or Aberdeenshire cattle. I happen to know of a 

 case where a farmer, from a distance purchased a two year old 

 heifer of the stamp referred to, for the purpose of improving his 

 polled cattle, and for this heifer he paid fifty guineas !" — ($250.) 



The knowledge of this law* givas us a clue to the cause of many 

 of the disappointments of which practical breeders often complain 

 and to the cause of many variations otherwise unaccountable, and 

 it suggests particular caution as to the first male employed in the 



* A very striking fact may be related in this connection, ■which while it may or 

 may not have a practical bearing on the breeding of domestic animals, shows forci- 

 bly how mysterious are some of the laws of rei^roduction. It is stated by the cele- 

 brated traveler, Count de Strzelecki, in his Physical Description of New South AVales 

 and Van Dieman's Land. " Whenever," he says, "a fruitful intercourse has taken 

 2)lace between an aboriginal woman and an Euroi^ean male, that aborigmal woman 

 is forever after incapable of being impregnated by a male of her own nation, 

 although she may again be fertile with a European." The Count, whose means 

 and powers of observation are of the highest possible order, affirms that " hundreds 

 of instances of this extraordinary fact are on record in the writer's memoranda all 

 recurring invariably under the same circumstances, all tending to prove that the 

 sterility of the female, which is relative only to one and not to the other male is not 

 accidental, but follows laws as cogent though as mysterious as the rest of those 

 connected with generation." The Count's statement is endorsed by Dr. Maunsell 

 of Dublin, Dr. Carmichael of Edinburgh, and the late Prof Goodsir, who say they 

 have learned from independent sources that as regards Australia, Strzelecki's state- 

 ment is unquestionable and must be regarded as the expression of a law of nature. 

 The law does not extend to the negro race, the fertility of the negro female not 

 being apparently imjoaired by previous fruitful intercourse with a European male. 



In reply to an inquiry made whether he had ever noticed exceptional cases, the 

 Count says : " It has not come under my cognizance to see or hear of a native 

 female whicli having a child with a European had afterwards any offspring with a 

 male of her own race." 



The Count's statement is suggestive as to the disappearance of the aborigines of 

 some countries. This has often been the subject of severe comment and is generally 

 ascribed to the rum and diseases introduced by the white man. It would now 

 appear that other influences have also been operative. 



