THE SEX OF THE PROGENY. 129 



am a pure-blood breeder myself. My object simply was to get 

 a definite answer of some kind. 



The President. The chair regrets very mucli indeed that 

 when he stated distinctly, and somewhat elaborately, that he 

 knew of no first-class animal of the various breeds, that could 

 not trace ^ its pedigree back to some importation, he was not 

 understood. And when he replied to Mr. Brown, he did not 

 intend to meet his question by a jest, but simply to state what 

 the difficulty was. Mr. Brown asked how many generations he 

 must breed a common cow with a Jersey bull before he could 

 get a pure-bred Jersey calf; and my answer was, I did not 

 believe he would live long enough to do it. I don't ; and he 

 may live to be ninety-nine years old. I think the answer is 

 very definite. 



Now, I want to ask Professor Law one question. There is no 

 doubt that in all sciences, definite and specific names are of 

 great value — nomenclature. There are American and English 

 Shorthorn herd-books, and I have had the impression that the 

 old name of " Durham " had been translated into " Shorthorn." 

 Now, I find that in Professor Law's lecture this morning, he 

 used the name " Shorthorn " and " Durham " as applicable to 

 the same breed of animals ; and what I wish to ask is, whether 

 among breeders these two names are used interchangeably ; 

 whether, for instance, the herd which Mr. Thorne formerly 

 owned would .be called indiscriminately, by breeders, a " Short- 

 horn " or a " Durham " herd ? 



Professor Law. That is the state of the case. The words 

 are used, to a considerable extent in England, interchangeably. 

 On the Continent of Europe, in my experience, the term " Dur- 

 ham " alone is used, or very nearly alone. 



Mr. J. F. C. Hyde. There is one question I would like to 

 ask, — whether the professor has ever investigated the question 

 how to determine the sex of tlie progeny, and, if so, what has 

 been the result of his investigation ? 1 hear dealers complain that 

 all their heifers are bulls. Can they make the bulls heifers ? 



Professor Law. I had prepared some remarks on that sub- 

 ject, but the time had so far gone that 1 skipped them. 



The Chairman. Do you prove anything by them ? 



Professor Law. Very little. It would appear that, under 

 some circumstances, a soft condition of the system of the 

 17 



