RELATIVE INFLUENCE OF PARENTS. 251 



facts, would hardly seem to require further notice, 

 but we must not overlook some of its applications 

 that are of practical interest. "A and B," says Mr. 

 Walker, " who are more or less perfectly crossed, may 

 have very different vital and locomotive systems : of 

 their immediate progeny, C may have the vital system 

 of A and the locomotive system of B ; and ~D may, 

 on the contrary, have the locomotive system of A and 

 the vital system of B (for, in a feeble or imperfect 

 cross, such variation may occur) ; and, of the progeny 

 of these last, E may have from C the vital system of 

 A, and from D the locomotive system of A ; and F 

 may have from C the locomotive system of B, and 

 from D the vital system of B. Thus A and B may 

 be reformed in the third generation." 1 



The statement, in its simplest form, is that the 

 grandchildren E and F are identical with the grand- 

 parents A and B in organization, while the parents C 

 and D are each one-half A and one-half B. 



The absurdity of this proposition will be readily 

 seen in its application to a particular case. 



According to the theory a pure Devon bull, bred 

 to a pure Short-Horn cow, may produce a bull-calf 

 with the external organization of the Devon and the 

 internal organization of the Short-Horn ; the same 

 pair might also produce a heifer-calf with the external 

 organization of the Short-Horn and the internal or- 

 ganization of the Devon. With this division of the 

 organization it follows that, if the two cross-bred ani- 

 mals are bred together, the offspring in one instance 



1 Walker, loc. cit., p. 199. A similar statement in regard to the 

 cross of the Arab horse may be found in the same work, p. 183. 



