THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



49 



a different breed, such pregnant animal is a cross ever after, 

 the purity of her blood being lost in consequence of her con- 

 nexion with the foreign animal." And again : " If a cow, say 

 of the Aberdeenshire breed, is in calf to a bull of the shorthorn 

 breed (known as the Teeswater breed), in proportion as this 

 calf partakes of the nature and physical characters of the bull, 

 just in proportion will the hlood of the cow become contami- 

 nated, and herself a cross, for ever incapable of producing a pure 

 calf of any breed." It is maintained, therefore, that the great 

 variety of nondescript animals to be met with are the result 

 of the crossmaf system ; the prevailing evil of which is the ad- 

 mission of bulla of various breeds to the same cow, whereby 

 the blood is completely vitiated. Another important fact (for 

 I believe its authenticity is undoubted) is the one related by 

 the Count de Strzelecki, that if fruitful intercourse take place 

 between an European male and an aboriginal female of New 

 South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, that the female is for 

 ever afierwirds barren to a male of her own race, and only 

 capable of procreating with white men. He says, in his 

 " Physical Description of New South Wales and Van Die- 

 men's Lund," " Hundreds of inataucea of this extraordinary 

 fact are on record in the writer's memoranda, all recurring in- 

 variably uuder the same circumstances amongst the Hurons, 

 Seminolas, Red Indians, Yakirs, Mendoza Indians, Arancos, 

 South Sea Islanders, and natives of New Zealand, New South 

 Wales, and Van Diemen's Land ; and all tending to prove 

 that the sterility of the female, which is relative only to one 

 and not to tbe 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 backed 

 by the high authority of Dr. Maunsell of Dublin, Dr. Carrai- 

 chael of Edinburgh, and the late Professor Goodair, who say 

 they have learned from independent sources that, as regards 

 the aborigines of Australia, Strzelecki's statement is unques- 

 tionable, and must be regarded as the expression of a law 

 of nature. It is certain that this law does not extend to the 

 negro race ; the fertility of the negro female with the male of 

 her own race not being apparently impaired by previous fruit- 

 ful intercourse with the European male, a kind of intercourse 

 which is common in all the West India Islands, the Brazils, 

 and the slave-holding States of North America. Infinitely, 

 then, does it behove us to study these laws of breeding. I 

 must now, however, proceed to consider briefly the relative in- 

 fluence of the male and female in reproduction. In the breed- 

 ing of animals, whether for stock or for market, it is of im- 

 mense importance, as everything depends upon due 

 selection and adjustment of the male and female 

 to each other, or to the result wished for. Mr. 

 Walker in his work on Intermarriage has treated this 

 subject, as indeed he did everything he touched, with a mas- 

 ter's hand, but as the more interesting to the gentlemen pre- 

 sent, and more relevant to the subject 1 have brought for- 

 ward, I shall refer to a paper read by Mr. Orton, of Sunderland, 

 at a meeting of the Newcastle Farmers' Club, March 4, 1854, 

 and which paper has since been published in the Newcastle 

 Chronicle. The paper excited much interest amongt agricul- 

 turists in that part of the country. Sir Matthew Ridley took 

 the chair, and I believe the discussion was adjourned. Mr. 

 Orton's argument is that in the reproduction of the animal 

 species there is no casual blending of the parts and qualities 

 of the two parents, but that each parent contributes to the 

 formation of certain structures and to the development of 

 certain qualities. And, advancing a step further, he maintains 

 that the male parent chiefly determines the exteri^al characters, 

 the general appearance, in fact, the outward structures and 

 locomotive powers of the offspring («. (/., the brain, nerves, 



organs of sense, and skin, and likewise the bones and muscks, 

 more particularly of the limbs), while the female parent chiefly 

 determines the internal structures, and the general size and 

 quality, mainly furnishing the vital organs (e. g., the heart, 

 lungs, glands, and digestive organs), and giving a tone and 

 character to the vital functions of growth, nutrition, and 

 secretion. Not that the male is wholly without influence on 

 the internal organs and vital functions, or the female wholly 

 without influence on the external organs and locomotive 

 powers of the offspring. The law holds only " within certain 

 restrictions." These may be said to constitute a secondary 

 law— the law of limitations, equally important to be known 

 as the fundamental law itself. Mr. Orton adduces a large 

 collection of strikingly apposite examples. Crosses or hybrids 

 furnish the most remarkable examples of the proposition, and 

 serve the best to test it. The mule is the produce of the 

 male ass and the mare; tbe mute or hinny (hat of the stallion 

 horae and she ass. Both hybrids are the progeny of the same 

 set of animals, but they differ widely in their respective cha- 

 racters. The mule, in all that relates to its external characters, 

 having the distinctive features of the ass ; the hinny, in the 

 same respects, having all the distinctive features of the horse ; 

 while in all that relates to the internal organs and vital quali- 

 ties, the mule partakes of the characters of the horse, and the 

 hinny of those of the ass, "A cross between the male wolf 

 and a bitch illustrates the same law ; the offspring having a 

 markedly wolfish aspect — skin, colour, ears, and tail. On the 

 other hand, a cross between a dog and female wolf afforded 

 animals much more dog-like in aspect — slouched ears, and even 

 pied in colour." In the course of his paper, Mr. Orton adduces 

 some special evidence in support of that part of his argument 

 which relates to the office of the female in the work of repro- 

 duction. He gives several instances bearing on the milking and 

 on the nutrient and fattening qualities of the offspring, 

 which qualities, he alleges, pass chiefly on the side of the 

 female parent. He refers to the Shorthorns, and to the Dish- 

 ley sheep, as deriving and maintaining their celebrity through 

 the females. "I do not mean it to be inferred," he says, 

 " that either parent gives either set of organs uninfluenced by 

 the other parent, but merely that the leading characteristics 

 and qualities of both sets of organs are due to the male on the 

 one side, and the female on the other, the opposite parent 

 modifying them only. Thus I do not infer that the ass has 

 alone been the agent in conferring the external characteristics 

 of the mule, but merely that he has principally conferred the 

 developments ; while the mare has been, in regard to the 

 external organs, a secondary agent, an instrument not of 

 conferring, but only of modifying thoseorgans. Itis just the 

 reverse, however, with the vital organs. The female is 

 the agent in conferring them, the male only an agent in 

 modifying them. Hence I conceive that, though the male and 

 female parents in all cases give, the former the external, the 

 latter the internal organs, yet they each mutually exercise an 

 influence in modifying to a greater or lesser extent the organs 

 given by the other." In connection with this branch of the 

 subject, Mr. Orton draws a distinction between a part or 

 organ including its vital endowments, and the quality of the 

 organ and its endowments ; and while maintaining that the 

 " outer" structures are chiefly furnished by the male, he 

 equally holds that the quality of these, as of all the organs, 

 comes mainly from the female. By quality he obviously means 

 what in ordinary language is called stamina. This may be 

 illustrated by a reference to the horse. " Tbe Arab," he says, 

 " will let you have his stallion ; but his mare at no price. 

 He cultivates endurance and bottom, and the female gives 

 them. He does not know the law we are promulgating, but 



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