100 THE HOESE OF AMEEICA. 



balanced Irishman, who was a resident of North Carolina. This 

 book, which purported to be a "first" volume, was very remarka- 

 ble in many respects, two or three of which I will enumerate. 

 The prevailing absence of dates and all means by which the truth 

 or falsity of a pedigree could be determined; the astounding 

 number of crosses given, even to the immediate descendants of 

 imported sires; the multitude of animals never heard of before 

 nor since, with pedigrees extended a dozen crosses; the absence 

 of many animals that everybody had heard of. This book had 

 been in print about thirty years before I ever saw it, and the first 

 impression it made on my mind was that the author was "clean 

 daft." At the same time, through all his work there was a 

 "method in his madness," going to show the care he had taken to 

 exclude or suppress any little fact that might lead to detection 

 and exposure. As an illustration of his methods I will take the 

 following pedigree, at random, as given by him and copied, 

 literally, by Mr. Bruce, following the particular form of the 

 latter: 



CENTAUR, b. h. foaled 1767, bred by ; owned in Vir- 

 ginia, got by imported Stirling (Evans') (foaled 1762). 



1st dam by imp. Aristotle (imported 1764). 



2d dam by imp. Dotterel. 



3d dam by impo David (imported 1763). 



4th dam by imp. Ranter (imported 1762). 



5th dam by imp. Othello (imported 1755). 



6th dam by imp. Childers (imported 1761). 



7th dam an imported, thoroughbred mare. 

 Now, what do we know about this pedigree that has been in- 

 dorsed and published, just as here stated, by two stud-book 

 makers? They do not pretend to know by whom he was bred, 

 nor do they know in what part of Virginia he was owned, but 

 they assume to know perfectly well each cross in his pedigree 

 and that his seventh dam was an imported, thoroughbred mare. 

 The dates of importations in parentheses in the foregoing have 

 been placed there by myself for the sake of the exhibit. The 

 horse Dotterel, the original of that name and by the same reputed 

 sire, never left England, and it is probable this Dotterel is mythi- 

 cal. Now, let us analyze this pedigree by the aid of the search- 

 light of dates. Ranter, imported 1762, might have had a filly to 

 his credit in 1763. This filly at two years old might have been 

 bred to David and produced a filly in 1766. This filly at two 



