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CHAPTEE IV. 



HEEEDITARY UNSOUNDNESS. 



As it is impossible, with our present state of knowledge, 

 to define, even with approximate accuracy, the limits of 

 the influence of hereditary predisposition in the trans- 

 mission of disease, deformity, or proneness to alterations 

 of structure ; I shall here content myself with regarding 

 the subject from a purely practical standpoint ; and shall, 

 accordingly, enumerate only those defects which show 

 a marked tendency to be transmitted from parents to 

 offspring. Any form of unsoundness to which an animal 

 might have been predisposed, on account of faulty con- 

 formation, should be looked upon, in stud animals, with 

 considerable suspicion ; for " like " has always a strong 

 tendency to produce "like." No objection could be 

 made to a horse or mare for breeding purposes, because 

 he or she had lost an eye by accident; although the 

 case would be very different, with a strained back tendon 

 or suspensory ligament. This, however, would be a 

 question which could be decided only after a personal 



