THE HORSE BREEDING. 547 



2. " The office of the male is to secrete the semen in the 

 testes and emit it into the uterus of the female, in or near which 

 organ it comes in contact with the ovum of the female, which re- 

 mains sterile without it." 



3. " The female forms the ovum in the ovary, and at regular 

 times, varying in different animals, this descends into the uterus 

 for the purpose of fructification, and receiving the stimulus and 

 addition of the sperm-cell of the semen." 



4. "The semen consists of two portions, the spermatozoa, 

 which have an automatic power of moving from place to place, 

 by which quality it is believed that the semen is carried 

 to the ovum, and the sperm-cells, which are intended to co-oper- 

 ate with the germ-cell of the ovum in forming the embryo." 



5. " The ovum consists of the germ-cell intended to form part 

 of the embryo, and of the yolk, which nourishes both, until the 

 vessels of the mother take upon themselves the task, or in 

 oviparous animals, till hatching takes place, and external food is 

 to be obtained. The ovum is carried down by the contractile 

 power of the fallopian tubes from the ovary to the uterus, and 

 hence it does not require automatic particles, like semen." 



6. " The embryo, or young animal, is the result of the semen 

 with the ovum, immediately after which the sperm-cell of the 

 former is absorbed into the germ-cell of the latter. Upon this a 

 tendency to increase or 'grow' is established, and supported at 

 first by the nutriment contained in the yolk of the ovum, until 

 the embryo has attached itself to the walls of the uterus, from 

 which it afterwards absorbs its nourishment by the intervention 

 of the placenta" 



7. As the male and female each furnish their quota to the 

 formation of the embryo, it is reasonable to expect that each 

 shall be represented in it, which is found to be the case in 

 nature; but as the food of the embryo entirely depends upon 

 the mother, the health of the offspring and its constitutional 

 powers will be more in accordance with her state than with that 

 of the father ; yet since the sire furnishes one-half of the orig- 

 inal germ, it is not surprising that in external and general char- 

 acter there is retained a facsimile, to a certain extent, of him. 



