49 G TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



change every portion of their original bodies every seven years, may 

 deteriorate by intermarriage, and their progeny become inferior ; 

 still, if they were sei)arated for that i^eriod of time, and enjoyed 

 a different climate and style of living, their original bodj as well 

 as their blood having become entirely changed, they might marry 

 with impunity, and without fear of a degenerating issue. I be- 

 lieve in the trausmissibility of the properties of parents to their 

 offspring. On this princii^le all improvements in breeding is 

 founded. " Lil^e produces like." In animals it affects the 

 instincts, disposition and temper. It is one of the fixed laws of 

 nature, that animals should procreate their own species, and the 

 offspring do inherit the organization of the parents j if it were not 

 so the species would not be preserved, and besides, the specific 

 resemblance between parents and children, there is an individual 

 resemblance; the first insures the identity of the progeny, and 

 the second indicates their connection with particular parents. 

 Aristotle names a race of people among whom the tie of marriage 

 was not recognised, and parents were assigned to children from 

 their resemblance to them. Plutarch speaks of a family in Thebes, 

 every member of which was born with a spear head on his body. 

 Haller cites the case of the Bentivoglie family, in whom an 

 external humor was transmitted from father to son, wliich always 

 enlarged when the atmosphere was damp. Then may be added 

 the Eourbon nose, and Austrian lip. There is nothing in an ani- 

 mal that may not be transmitted by generation, unless a separa- 

 tion takes place for the period named. 



This idea i^uts great power in the stock breeder, who can pro- 

 pagate every desirable property found in a parent, in its offspring. 

 But there is one disturbing fact that I have noticed in my flock 

 of sheep, and that is, if a ewe is crossed when she first comes to 

 maturity by a short-eared buck, she imbibes influences from him 

 that modify her future progeny by other males; and though 

 crossed by one with long-ears three years in succession, she still 

 continued to have short-eared lambs, and a few days since had 

 three, two with long ears, and one willi short. This plainly shows 

 that a period of time must elape before we can obtain the desir- 

 able properties of both parents in equal combination. Mr. Geron 



