INTRA-UTERINE INFLUENCES. 285 



The most remarkable case of supposed influence 

 of the imagination that has come to my knowledge 

 was communicated to me by Mr. John B. Poyntz, a 

 breeder of Jersey cattle, Maysville, Kentucky, in a 

 letter dated December 18, 18T2. At my request he 

 made a more particular statement of the attending 

 circumstances, substantiated by affidavits, which was 

 published in The Bulletin, Maysville, Kentucky, Feb- 

 ruary 18, 1875. 



The published statement of Mr. Poyntz was as 

 follows : " Alderney Farm, near Maysville, Kentucky, 

 January 18, 1875. In the year 1863 the theory of 

 Prof. Thury, of Geneva, Switzerland the production 

 of sex at will was undergoing investigation on my 

 farm. For that purpose I selected a lot of Alderney 

 heifers and a bull; none of them were marked or 

 branded, nor were their ancestors subsequent to 1850. 

 In the month of July the cattle were placed on a 

 woodland pasture, well provided with water and blue 

 grass, and in the pasture were placed a number of 

 government horses, where they remained several 

 weeks. Each and every horse was branded on the 

 lower part of the left shoulder with the letters U. S. 

 In the spring and summer of 1864 the heifers had 

 calves. One of the number produced a fawn-colored 



copies over forty similar cases from Burdach and Dr. Blundell (" Cyclo- 

 paedia of Anatomy and Physiology," article " Generation," vol. ii., p. 

 475). 



In connection with the last case, Dr. Thomson remarks that " it is 

 not stated by the author of * Waverley ' whether anything of the kind 

 ever happened in the Bradwardine family ; " and he might with equal 

 propriety have raised the question as to the frequency of such malfor- 

 mations among the inhabitants of Berne. 



