36 THE RACE-HORSE. 



stock, may be quoted the following passage from 

 PercivaPs Lectures on the Veterinary Art (Lon- 

 don 1826.) " It might be supposed that the part 

 the male takes in fecundation is comparatively a 

 very unimportant one ; it must be remembered, 

 however, that the copulative act is the essential 

 first cause, that therein the action of the organs is 

 natural and sympathetic, and that the result is the 

 generation of a new animal, bearing a likeness to 

 one or both of the parents ; from which it would 

 appear, although the physical part of the male is 

 simply to project the sperm into the female, who 

 alone has the power of rendering it efficacious, that 

 the influence of the sperm is much greater in the 

 generative process than we seem to have any notion 

 of, or at least than we have been able to reveal the 

 nature of in physiology.'' * 



Rearing of Young Racing Stock. — Under all 

 circumstances, there is too much resemblance be- 

 tween the speculations of the Turf and a lottery ; 

 but, as the prizes it exhibits are valuable, the most 

 efl'ectual means of obtaining them should be adopt- 

 ed. It signifies little what care and circumspection 

 have been exercised in the selection of stallions and 

 mares, with a view of breeding racers ; the prospect 

 of success is very limited indeed at the present 

 day, unless the produce be reared according to the 

 improved system acted upon in our first-rate racing 

 establishments. Such was the pertinacity of opi- 



* Lecture 59, On the Physiology of the organs of Generation, 

 Male and Female, page 94. 



