THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



continue to diffuse their usefulnees, and materially assist in 

 carrying out the objects of the parent society. 



" Your council beg to inform you the deed of incorporation 

 having gone through all legal forms, is now in London await- 

 ing her Mojesty's signature. 



" lu conclusion, your council beg to congratulate you on 

 the very prosperous condition and growing importance of 

 the society ; they would at the same time urge upon every 

 member the necessity of increased exertion to assist in the 



enrolment of subscribers, as by that means only can the so- 

 ciety extend the sphere of its usefulness. 



" George Hodson, Bart., Chairman. 



"May 31st, 1860." 



The only discussion of importance was upon the resigna- 

 tion of Dr. Apjohn, the consulting chemist of the society, and 

 the meeting recomtiiended the council to reconsider the sub- 

 ject of that gentleman's withdrawal. Lord Clonbrock was 

 elected president. 



THE IN-AND-IN SYSTEM OF BREEDING ANIMALS. 



A PAPER READ AT THE CROYDON FARMERS' CLUB. 



By J. Shorthouse, M.D, LL.D., of Carshalton. 



EJwd. Stenning, Esq., President, ia the Chair. R. W. Fuller, Esq., in the Vice-chair. 



That a " man may not marry his grandmother," or his 

 " father's brother's wife," or his " wife's sister's daughter " is 

 a well recognized axiom, and enforced not only by scripture, 

 but by the laws of this country ; nevertheless, undismayed by 

 the canonical pains and peaaltiea attached to a violation of 

 the " laws and customs " of the church, and not having the 

 fear of bishops, deans, archdeacons, priests, deacons, and 

 other dignitaries and functionaries of the church before my 

 eyes, I appear before you as advocate of in-and-in breeding 

 in the inhuman animals of the class mammalia. I designate 

 myself an advocate advisedly, for although my desire is to 

 judge impartially, I am so convinced, after a somewhat ex- 

 tensive enquiry into the various systems of breeding, of the 

 superiority of the in-and-in method, that I unhesitatingly pre- 

 sent myself before you as the advocate of a very unpopular 

 system. I shall not be surprised, however much I may regret 

 the circumstance, if I have to champion the cause before this 

 meeting singlehanded, and if all the other members of the 

 Club are of a contrary opinion. There are many members 

 whose opinions are entitled to much weight, and by myself are 

 highly valued, and if I appeared here with no other experience 

 than my own on the subject, I confess I should shrink from 

 an encounter with men so much more able to impart infor- 

 mation than I am. Fool-hardy, indeed, should I appear, if I 

 introduced only my own views to your notice; and pre- 

 sumptions, indeed, if, in my folly, I attempted to dictate my 

 opinions to men of much greater experience, and with more 

 extensive opportunities, than have been afforded me. I may 

 premise that I shall confine myself almost exclusively to well 

 known facts, merely supplying a connecting link to give 

 coherence and intelligibility to them. On the first blush a 

 child might be supposed to resemble his father rather than 

 his godfather, or grandfather, but this is by no means certain. 

 By resemblance I do not mean the characters which belong to 

 a class of beings such as having two arms, two legs, two eyes, 

 &c., or of being a man and not a hedgehog, but the peculiar 

 characteristics belonging to the individual which makes the 

 child a " smaller edition " of his progenitor, or as it is 

 vulgarly called a "chip off the old block." But it by no 

 means happens that a child necessarily resembles his father ; 

 indeed, if his mother h&ve previously h&d fruitful mtercom&e 

 with another man, and that other man be of a different race, 

 it is almost certain that the child will 7wt ia the slightest de- 

 gree resemble his own father, and I do not here mean simply 

 the husband of the child's mother, who in the eye of the law 

 would be regarded as his father, hut his actual profjenitor^ 

 This is a fact so well known, and of such unquestionable im- 

 portance, that in any discussion on breeding, it behoves us uot 



to lose si§ht of it. We have an instance of this in the 

 chesnut Arabian mare of Lord Moreton's, which after being 

 covered in 1815 by a qusgga (a sort of wild ass from Africa), 

 gave birth to a hybrid, which had distinct marks of the 

 quagga in the shape of its head, black bars on the 

 shoulders, &c. In 1817, 1818, and 1821, the same mare 

 was covered by a very fine b'ack Arabian horse, produced 

 successively three foals, all of which bore unequivocal 

 marks of the quagga, and no resemblance to their own 

 sire. The mare was only covered by the quagga once, and 

 never saw him afterwards. I could adduce numerous 

 analogous instances, but have not time to go into details. I 

 must be satisfied with pointing to the circumstance, which may 

 almost be regarded as a law. It is this : That a male 

 animal, that has once had fruitful connexion with a female, 

 may so influence her future offspring begotten by other males, 

 as, to a greater or less extent, to engraft upon them his own 

 distinctive features ; his influence reaching to the subsequent 

 progeny of the female in whose conception he himself had no 

 share. Accordingly, if the female be of a different breed or 

 species from that male, and have thus borne a hybrid 

 or cross by him, her subsequent offspring got by males 

 of the same breed as herself may yet have, more or less, 

 the characters of a cross or hybrid. Dr. Harvey saj's : "It 

 seems not improbable that on every occasion of fruitful inter- 

 course some effect of this kind is wrought on the breeding 

 powers of the female ; but it would appear that the greatest 

 etiects result from the first sexual connexion." If this be a 

 general fact, having the character of a law of nature, it is one 

 obviously of great practical application in the breeding of stock. 

 It will at once appear how important it must be that care be 

 taken in the selection of the male, and 'particularly in the first 

 male, in the coupling animals even of the same breed ; and if 

 the preservation of a pure breed be an object of regard, that 

 crossing be ia every instance eschewed. If a cross be desired 

 for fattening purposes, the female ought never after to be used 

 for breeding purposes, i. e., for perpetuating stock, for her 

 produce will inevitably be more or less mongrel. This ques- 

 tion has been investigated with great care and research by 

 Mr. M'Gillivray, a veterinary surgeon of Huntley, and the 

 results published in an elaborate paper in the Aberdeen Jour- 

 nal, to which I refer those gentlemen who are curious on the 

 point. Dr. Alexander Harvej', of Southampton, has also 

 published a pamphlet, which is unfortunately out of print, but 

 from which I have given extracts. It is desirable to know the 

 ciuse of this phenomenon. An ingenious explanation of it 

 has been offered by Mr. M'Gillivray. He eays : "When a 

 pure animal of any breed has been preguant to au animal of 



