30 PRINCIPLES OF STOCK-BREEDING. 



in life, as at two or three years of age, and even be- 

 fore the animals have been exposed to what are con- 

 sidered the ordinary exciting causes of ophthalmia." * 



M. Pauli gives the case of a family of nine chil- 

 dren who were all born blind. Sir Henry Holland 

 states that four out of five children in one family be- 

 came blind at the age of about twelve years, the he- 

 reditary character of the defect being confirmed by 

 " the existence of a family monument, long prior in 

 date, where a female ancestor is represented with 

 several children around her, the inscription recording 

 that all the number were blind." 



" In the family of Le Compte, thirty-seven chil- 

 dren and grandchildren became blind like himself, 

 and the blindness in this case occurred about the age 

 of seventeen or eighteen years, for three successive 

 generations." a 



Dr. Dun gives the case of a stallion that, at the 

 age of four years, " appeared perfectly sound, and his 

 limbs were nearly black, well formed, and fine ; with- 

 in a short time, however, they became thick and 

 greasy. And, although the mares to which he was 

 put were perfectly free from such faults, the progeny 

 have shown, in every case where they can be traced, 

 unmistakable evidence of their inheriting the greasy 

 diathesis of their sire. They have all been found 

 liable to swelled legs when they stand idle for a few 



1 Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, vol. xiv., p. 120. 



8 The last three cases are copied from Mr. Sedgwick's paper in the 

 British and Foreign Medico- Chirurgical Review, April, 1861, p. 260. 

 The case of the Le Compte family was originally reported in the BaUi 

 more Medical and Physical Register, 1809. 



