282 PRINCIPLES OF STOCK-BREEDING. 



" It is stated that the ambition, courage, and mili- 

 tary skill of Napoleon Bonaparte had their foundation 

 in the circumstance that the emperor's mother fol- 

 lowed her husband in his campaigns, and was sub- 

 jected to all the dangers of a military life ; while, on 

 the other hand, the murder of David Rizzio in the 

 presence of Queen Mary was the death-blow to the 

 personal courage of King James I., and occasioned 

 that strong dislike of edged weapons for which that 

 crafty and pedantic monarch was said to be remark- 

 able." 1 



At the siege of Landau, in 1793, " in addition to 

 a violent cannonading, which kept the women for 

 some time in a constant state of alarm, the arsenal 

 blew up with a terrific explosion, which few could 

 hear with unshaken nerves. Out of ninety-two chil- 

 dren born in that district within a few months after- 

 ward, Baron Percy states that sixteen died at the in- 

 stant of birth ; thirty-three languished for from eight 

 to ten months and then died ; eight became idiotic, 

 and died before the age of five years ; and two came 

 into the world with numerous fractures of the bones 

 and limbs, caused by the cannonading and explosion. 

 Here, then, is a total of fifty-nine children out of 

 ninety-two, or within a trifle of two out of every 

 three, actually killed through the medium of the 

 mother's alarm, and the natural consequences upon 

 her own organization." a 



Mr. Boswell relates the following, on the authority 

 of " Mr. Mustard, an extensive farmer on Sir James 



1 " Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology," vol. ii., p. 474. 

 9 Carpenter's "Human Physiology," p. 1011. 



