farmers' miscellany. 279 



stances referred to and one of which is known to me personally, 

 there is between the cause and effect, a similarity so perfect, that 

 it is not easy to suppose it could have been accidental. Such are 

 the views of men w^ho have examined the subject as a mailer of 

 science, but among the uneducated, the belief is almost universal, 

 that the imagination of the mother during pregnancy, bus a 

 strong controlling influence over her offspring. Indeed, the ori- 

 gin of this opinion is coeval with our earliest records, and 

 ilthough this alone should not be taken as proof, yet when we 

 5ind a belief prevalent, not only in a single neighborhood, or even 

 1 single nation, but wide spread as the family of man, and this 

 jelief still further substantiated by occasional instances, occurring 

 inder our own observation, it requires a strong degree of skepti- 

 ;ism to deny utterly its truth. 



This influence is also claimed to operate upon the brute orders 



)f creation, and although we cannot for a moment suppose ani- 



Qals to possess that same degree of sensitiveness as we claim for 



|»ur own race, we cannot deny to them tender affections and sym- 



itathies, through which the causes here spoken of must operate. 



I No one circumstance connected with the history of the influ- 



i'.nce we are here discussing, has so effectually contributed to its 



termanency as a popular opinion, as the successful stratagem of 



iacob to secure to himself the " ring streaked " cattle from the 



locks of Laban. It is urged, however, that the effect here pro- 



iuced, was an indirect interposition of God in favor of Jacob, 



ind against the crafty Laban. It would appear, however, from a 



jareful consideration of the narrative, that Jacob only availed 



iimself of knowledge, he had previously acquired as an expcri- 



pced herdsman ; yet, it is freely admitted that the extent of his 



access, was far greater than could have been anticipated from the 



iifluence of his motley rods alone. It is thus related. " And 



acob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and ches- 



jut tree ; and pilled white streaks in them, and made the white 



pear which was in the rods. And he set the rods which he had 



lied before the flocks in the gutters, in the watering troughs 



hen the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when 



ley came to drink. And the flocks conceived before the rods, 



