500 THE HORSE. 



was enervated by a debauch. Many causes of change will occur 

 to each parent in the year or two that elapses between the births 

 of children, and these changes in the parents modify the constitu- 

 tions of the children. Twins may be much alike, because there 

 is no time for change, commonly, between the times of their con- 

 ception ; though they may differ by resembling different parents, 

 or by an interval between the times of conception, or even by being 

 the children of different fathers. 



It is not essential to the transmission of acquired qualities, that 

 they shall have been long acquired ; a few days of strength or of 

 debility, even perhaps a single hour of difference in the parent, 

 may make a life-long difference to the child. A mental impression, 

 however short, if only strong enough, may be transmitted. Well- 

 authenticated cases have been related to me, one of a full-bred 

 Durham calf that resembled neither parent, but a brindle ox that 

 strongly impressed the minds of both parents at the time of con- 

 ception ; and another of a litter of pigs of the white variety, com- 

 mon in Chester and Delaware counties, and famous everywhere, 

 that were part of them black, because a black sow from Maryland 

 was conspicuously present at the time of conception. Several 

 cases have come within my own knowledge, of mares that pro- 

 duced foals colored and marked like some stable or field companion, 

 and entirely unlike both parents in that respect. 



It is a popular belief that impressions made on the mind of the 

 mother during pregnancy, may be transmitted to the offspring; but 

 that cannot be true, because there is no connection by nerves 

 between the mother and child ; and a mental impression could not 

 be conveyed by the blood. All of such supposed cases were pro- 

 bably instances in which the impression was made on the mind of 

 the mother before conception became a part of herself and was 

 then transmitted to her offspring by the same law that any other 

 quality of a parent is transmitted. This accounts, probably, for 

 the well-authenticated case, before alluded to, of colts resembling 

 a quagga that was not their sire. The mare had a distinct recol- 

 lection of the strange beast associated in her mind, with the 

 sexual intercourse she had first with him ; and subsequent occa- 

 sions of a similar kind with horses recalled the mental impression, 

 and it was transmitted, being, and having been for years, a part 

 of her mental constitution. 



It follows, that in breeding for trotting horses, we should not be 

 unmindful of the temporary condition of the sire and dam. Mares 

 are generally worked, and are nearly always in very good condition 

 for breeding. With stallions, it is usually quite different. They 

 are kept, as if their use was procreating colts for beef, rather than 

 speed, spirit, and endurance. They are overfed and underworked; 

 they are fat and feeble; their muscles and ligaments are not 



