12 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. 



The passage in the Decalogue, which declares 

 that the iniquities of the "fathers are visited 

 upon the children unto the third and fourth 

 generations, is clothed with a new and startling 

 significance since it has come to be generally 

 understood that this declaration is a concise 

 statement of the operations of a physiological 

 law, from which there is absolutely no escape. 

 That the physical as well as the mental and 

 moral infirmities and peculiarities of the father 

 and mother are visited upon the children, even 

 beyond the third and fourth generations, is as 

 true of the human family as it is of cattle, 

 horses, sheep, and swine. 



It is not my purpose to attempt to contro- 

 vert the principle that "all men are born free 

 and equal," which stands as the corner-stone 

 of our political system. Undoubtedly this is 

 true when applied to "rights under the law," 

 but that all men are born physically, mor- 

 ally, and intellectually equal will scarcely be 

 claimed by the most ardent admirer of our 

 democratic institutions. There is a solid foun- 

 dation, in physiological fact, for the admiration 

 with which the "first families of Virginia" have 

 been regarded, and the same may be said of 

 many of the families of New England and 

 other parts of our country. Dr. Oliver Wendell 

 Holmes makes his "Autocrat of the Breakfast 

 Table" give utterance to his belief in this great 



