74 PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 



portion as the mother is more vigorous and the father 

 more decrepit, and that the reverse occurs with the 

 offspring of an old female and a young male. 



Among the more recent theories or hypotheses which 

 have been started regarding the relative influence of 

 the male and female parents, those of Mr. Orton, pre- 

 sented in a paper read before the Farmers' Club at 

 Newcastle upon Tyne, on the Physiology of Breeding, 

 and of Mr. Walker in his work on Intermarriage, as 

 they both arrived to a certain extent, at substantially 

 the same conclusions by independent observations of 

 their own and as these seem to agree most nearly with 

 the majority of observed facts, are deemed worthy of 

 favorable mention. 



The conclusions of Mr. Orton, briefly stated,* are, 

 that in the progeny there is no casual or haphazard 

 blending of the parts or qualities of the two parents, 

 but rather that organization is transmitted by halves, 

 or that each parent contributes to the formation of 

 certain structures, and to the development of certain 

 qualities. Advancing a step further, he maintains, that 

 the male parent chiefly determines the external charac- 

 ters, the general appearance, in fact, the outward struct- 

 ure and locomotive powers of the offspring, as the 



♦Quoted, in part, from a paper by Alex. Harvey, M. D., read be- 

 fore the Medical Society of Southampton, .June 6th, 1854. 



