INFLUENCE OF A PREVIOUS IMPREGNATION. 269 



"At birth," says Dr. Marshall, "the embryonal 

 vascular portion of these membranes, whether it be a 

 diffused, cotyledonous, zonular, or discoidal placenta, 

 is always detached. In the case of the zonular and 

 discoidal forms of the placenta, where a true decidua 

 is developed, a part of the maternal tissues is also 

 separated at the same time. 



" Where there is no decidua, as in the diffuse and 

 cotyledonous forms, the foetal villi are merely detached 

 from the surfaces or recesses into which they fit. In 

 the latter cases parts of the maternal tissues, especially 

 of the veins and venous lacunae, come away," ' 



It does not seem probable that an impression re- 

 ceived by these temporary structures should be trans- 

 mitted, through their influence, to subsequent impreg- 

 nations. 



The numerous instances of the influence of a previ- 

 )iis impregnation upon offspring by another male that 

 have been observed in fowls, to which we now direct 

 our attention, must, however, be fatal to this theory, 

 as well as that of blood contamination. 



Mr. W. H. Smith, of Lexington, Kentucky, makes 

 the following statement : " On or about the first day 

 of February, 1873, I loaned a prime Dark Brahma 

 cock, that was a good, vigorous bird, to Mr. James 

 Fought, of this city. He put him with a lot of Light 

 Brahma hens, with which a Houdan cock had been 

 running previously. The hens laid, set, hatched, and 



1 " Outlines of Physiology," p. 960. See also "Text-Book of Human 

 Physiology," by Flint, p. 943 ; Flint's " Physiology of Man," vol. v., 

 pp. 376, 454 ; " Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology r " vol, v,, p, 

 659 ; Carpenter's " Human Physiology," p. 980. 



