A NICE DISTINCTION. 117 



put our bulls to cows when they arc a year old, and by the time 

 they are three or four years old we get rid of them. The 

 result is, we have a great deal of immature stock, and there is 

 no doubt,- as the Professor has stated, that a great many of the 

 abortions, and many of the diseases to which our cattle are 

 subject are owing to this fact. I apprehend, that if we would 

 change our course in that respect, if we would wait until our 

 bulls get a little older before putting them to tlie female, and if 

 we would retain them after they get mature, we should have 

 better stock. I think there is hardly a gentleman here who will 

 not say, that the best calves he gets are from bulls that are six 

 or seven years old, which have been properly fed and exercised ; 

 and I believe we can only keep up our stock, and breed a good 

 class of animals, by using males that have become somewhat 

 mature. 



Hon. Simon Brown, of Concord. I desire merely to ask a 

 question. In the summing up of the lecturer, I think in his 

 fifth item, he states that when a cow of pure blood is put to a 

 bull of mixed blood, there is danger that the progeny in after 

 conceptions will take the form and features of the first animal. 

 Tiie question I desire to ask is this, — whether the semen of the 

 male in the first conception does not pass into the circulation 

 and remain there as long as tlie female conceives ; and whether 

 there is any certainty afterwards that you will get a pure animal 

 from any other bull ? 



Professor Law. The question is easily answered. It does 

 not ; otherwise, we should find in the circulation those elements. 

 But the question as to whether certain minute infinitesimal 

 elements pass into the circulation is one which we cannot 

 answer. That is a question started by Darwin. He supposes 

 that the minute living particles or germs, that are afterwards to 

 be developed into cells, if you please, and to control the develop- 

 ment of future beings, are really absorbed and remain in the 

 blood, inactive, it may be for generations, passing through a 

 number of individuals, and afterwards re-appearing and show- 

 ing their type. Of course, we cannot trace these minute par- 

 ticles, many of them so small as to be perfectly inappreciable 

 by the most powerful microscope. 



Hon. Charles G. Davis, of Plymouth. I do not riee to at- 

 tempt to give any information on this subject, but to confess my 



