THE BREEDER'S CORNER-STONE. 33 



ported (Dr. Finlay Dun in " Journal Royal Agri- 

 cultural Society") to have transmitted the lat- 

 ter disease, which he had in a very violent form, 

 to the fifth generation of his descendants, caus- 

 ing loss of sight at a very early age, one too 

 early for them under ordinary circumstances to 

 have contracted the disease. 



But as already indicated pulmonary diseases 

 and scrofulous complaints, such as consump- 

 tion, diarrhea, dysentery, glandular swellings 

 and suppuration, are peculiarly subjects of in- 

 heritance, and readily pass into what may be 

 termed chronic hereditability; that is to say, 

 become congenital. These diseases have been 

 inmaii stucliedjwith great thoroughness as to 

 their congenital character, and the great mass 

 of statistics which have been gathered attest 

 this character beyond a question. Nor is it 

 less true of animals, and especially of cattle. 

 I have known family after family of cattle 

 which had congenital tuberculosis, and also not 

 a few with scrofulous tendencies to glandular 

 swelling and tumors. In some cases the organ 

 affected will not be the same. As for instance, 

 a cow will transmit a scrofulous tendency to 

 tuberculosis to her calf, but while in her it 

 affected the lungs in the calf it will affect the 

 alimentary canal and take the form of con- 

 sumption of the bowels or of chronic, malig- 

 nant diarrhea. These are the diseases which 



