THE BREEDER'S CORNER-STONE. 81 



nesses of constitution, tendency to abortion, 

 to early loss of fertility, and so forth, are 

 the compensation to maintain an equilibrium, 

 where, on the other hand, high flesh-making 

 qualities and superior milking qualities are 

 similarly transmitted. 



A few observed instances of this hereditary 

 nature of physical defects and diseases may not 

 be out of place by way of arresting attention 

 and exhibiting the very radical and far-reach- 

 ing influence which they possess. 



As illustrations of mere physical defects the 

 well-known frequency with which persons who 

 are left-handed pass on the defect to their chil- 

 dren* may be considered as a limiting value, 

 that is as on the border land between a mere 

 habit and a physical defect. Darwin cites from 

 "Anderson's Recreations in Agriculture," etc., 

 Vol. I, p. 68, the case of a one-eared rabbit which 

 produced a breed kept up for some time which 

 possessed only a single ear; and also the case 

 of a bitch which had a defect in one leg which 

 was transmitted to her puppies. The widely- 

 cultivated breeds of lop-eared rabbits and of 

 Manx tailless cats offer other illustrations of 



*Thue in the Biblical account of the tribe of Benjamin: "The Lord 

 raised them up a deliverer, Ehud a Benjamite, a man left-handed." 

 Judges Hi, 15. 



"And the children of Benjamin were numbered at that time. * * * 

 Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men left-handed; 

 every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss." Idem 

 xx, 15-16. 



