BREEDING. 41 



jCeal whatever could in the least tend to an 

 additional discovery upon the subject. 



It is not the purport of the present work 

 (nor is at all applicable to the purpose) 

 to enter into physical researches, leading 

 the reader through a long chain of philo- 

 sophical disquisition upon Lewenhoeck's 

 microscopic investigation of the animalcwlu 

 contained in the semen of animals, foundinsf 

 upon such inquiry a thousand conjectures 

 respecting this abstruse process of nature, 

 that may very much perplex the mind, but 

 can neither tend to entertain or^ improve the 

 judgment. 



Of as little consequence or advantage it 

 must certainly prove, to attempt any exact 

 decision by what nice and undiscovered ope* 

 ration in the animal system, a horse is ren- 

 dered fix^t partially , then totally blind by too 

 frequent or hard racing ; as well as the very 

 common occurrence of a stallion's becomin<r 

 equally so by too constant and repeated cover^ 

 ing, though the act itself is a spontaneous 

 effort of nature » 



