THE BREEDER'S CORNER-STONE. 35 



ties. We have hitherto approached the consid- 

 eration of this subject in a broad general view. 

 It is now important to consider it from a more 

 special standpoint with reference to the actual 

 cases put to us in deciding upon a course of 

 breeding. The first question that meets us is 

 the relative value of the two animals at any 

 time interbred. We have the two animals, and 

 from their union according to the laws of pro- 

 creation springs a third. This animal is a pro- 

 duct of the parent natures, and our inquiry 

 now is: in what proportion. The prima facie 

 case is in favor of an equal influence of male 

 and female. With no further data for our con- 

 clusion we are driven to accept the equal fusion 

 as the only solution. 



Many attempts have been made to show that 

 one parent controls the external appearance 

 and the other the disposition. Many more or 

 less ingenious theories have been advanced 

 taking almost every conceivable view; but I 

 am unable to see that any advance of a tangi- 

 ble nature has yet been made. And until such 

 is the ' case I think that we are justified in 

 assuming that in the simple form of the propo- 

 sition above given we are to assign equal weight 

 to each parent as a factor in the product. 



We have, therefore, with respect to the ques- 

 tion of inheritance, to discover how the natures 

 of the parents have mingled. It needs no argu- 



