76 A TREATISE ON HORSE-BREEDING. 



the purity of other offspring that bear no evidence of hav- 

 ing been subjected to such modifying cause. If Mr. Dar- 

 win's theory is correct, that the whole blood of the mother 

 is charged with gemmules from the embryo, which gemmules 

 pass into all future ova, then all future offspring are essen- 

 tially crosses, as will appear in their progeny, even if they 

 themselves show no sign of modification. But, on the other 

 hand, if the result is only due to the mutual influence of 

 adjacent cells in the womb and foetal membranes, as vege- 

 table as well as animal physiology seem to imply, then the 

 general system of the dam is unaffected, and her progeny, 

 which have personally escaped such influence and show non3 

 of the modified characters, may be held to bs of pure lineage, 

 and may be bred from without fear of degraded offspring. 



While there are many instances in history 

 which go to confirm this theory, as presented 

 by Prof. Law, yet I am inclined to the opinion, 

 from long years of close observation, that the 

 cases wherein the first impregnation of mam- 

 mals affects the subsequent progeny are so rare 

 as to make it practically of but little account 

 in the calculation of the breeder. Indeed the 

 cases wherein such resemblances are noticed in 

 horses, cattle, sheep, and swine are so few and 

 obscure as to lead me rather to the conclusion 

 that they are accidental, or owing to an inher- 

 ited similarity in the remote ancestry, rather 

 than to some occult influence exercised by a 

 first impregnation. The case of Lord Moreton's 

 mare and the quagga foal has been pressed into 

 service by every man who has written upon 

 this subject within the last half century, and 

 yet it proves nothing. The black stripe is a 



