58 PRINCIPLES OF STOCK-BREEDING. 



In his experiments with Guinea-pigs, Dr. Brown- 

 Sequard observed that, in those subjected to a particu- 

 lar operation, involving a portion of the spinal cord 

 or sciatic nerve, " a slight pinching of the skin of the 

 face would throw the animals into a kind of epileptic 

 convulsion. When these epileptic Guinea-pigs bred 

 together, their offspring showed the same predisposi- 

 tion, without having been themselves subjected to any 

 lesion whatever ; while no such tendency showed itself 

 in any of the large number of young which were bred 

 from parents that had not been operated on." J 



Prof. Tanner says he knew " a very striking in- 

 stance of the loss of milk in a flock (previously cele- 

 brated for their supply of milk) being traced entirely 

 to the use of a very well-formed ram, bred from a ewe 

 singularly deficient in milk." a 



It is stated on good authority that animals that 

 have been "branded" in the same place for several 

 successive generations, transmit the same mark to their 

 offspring." ' 



From the many cases of inherited habits and ab- 

 normal peculiarities on record, we have quoted a suffi- 

 cient number to show the great variety of such charac- 

 ters that are liable to be transmitted. 



In a large proportion of cases it must be admitted 

 that the abnormal peculiarities of parents are not ob- 

 served in the offspring, and it has been claimed from 



1 Carpenter's " Mental Physiology," p. 371 ; Darwin's "Animals and 

 Plants under Domestication," vol. ii., p. 36 ; Herbert Spencer's " Biol- 

 ogy," vol. i., p. 251. 



8 Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, vol. xxii., p. 5. 



8 " Encyclopedic Pratique de 1'Agriculteur," tome viii., p. 678; 

 Goodale's " Principles of Breeding," p. 25. 



