GENERAL PRINCIPLES OP BREKOIN&. 



muzzle, hard, unyielding skin, thin and dry hair, irregularity in 

 changing the coat, prominence of the bones, especially about the 

 haunch and tail, and want of harmony among the different parts of 

 the body, giving the animal a coarse and ungainly look. These are 

 appearances all indubitably hereditary, and indicative of a weak and 

 vitiated constitution, and of a decidedly scrofulous tendency. These 

 indications will answer for other classes of animals which are the 

 victims of a scrofulous inheritance. That frightful constitutional 

 disease, glanders; grease and opthalmia are all hereditary, and the 

 taint may be transmitted for some generations. A horse in one 

 generation may show no signs of disease, but the inherited tendency 

 will be transmitted with precision to his progeny. 



Relative Influence of Sire and Dam upon Off- 

 spring- The influence of both the parents upon the offspring must 

 not be ignored. It has been contended that it is the sire, if he ; s 

 well bred, which gives the dominating character to the offspring of 

 animals; but the many instances of resemblance to the dam shows 

 this not to be constant. Dr. Allen Thomson, in his article on 

 "Generation," in the "Cyclopedia of Anatomy and 1'hysiology," 

 puts this question in its proper light. He says: " It is generally 

 admitted that in the bull, horse, and other domestic animals, the 

 purer and less mixed the breed is, the greater is the probability of 

 its transmitting to the offspring the qualities it possesses, whether 

 these be good or bad. Economical purposes have made the male in 

 general the more important, because he serves for a considerable 

 number of females. The consequence of this has been that more 

 attention has been paid to the blood, or purity of race, of the stal- 

 lion, bull, ram and boar, than to that of the females; and hence it 

 may be the case that these males more frequently transmit these 

 qualities to the offspring than do the inferior females to which they 

 are made to breed. But this circumstance can scarcely be adduced 

 as a proof that the male, other things being equal, influences the 

 offspring more than the female." Rev. Mr. Berry, discussing in 

 " Transactions of the Highland Agricultural Society," the question 

 whether the breeds of live-stock connected with agriculture be 

 susceptible of the greater improvement from the qualities conspicu- 

 ous in the male, or those conspicuous in the female, does not con- 

 cede to either parent any excessive influence over that of the other: 

 and he reaches the conclusion that the best-bred will have the 

 greater weight with the offspring's character. It is observable that 

 the parent most cleanly bred will be prepotent will have the more 

 decided influence in affecting the character and constitution of the 

 offspring, and therefore it is the part of wisdom to select the supe- 

 rior males for the stud or herd. But though this is the ordinary 

 rule, there are frequent conditions which interfere with its operation 

 and qualify it. For instance, there may have been bred in the sire 

 of a horse a tendency to speed, and the staying powers may have 

 been neglected, and the unusual development in that as in any other 



