204 THEORY OF GENERATION. 



be supposed that the breeder has obtained perfection in all 

 respects, and his object therefore must be to rectify her defects, 

 and retain her perfections if any. To do this with advantage, it is 

 necessary to be aware of the principles upon which breeding in 

 general should be conducted, and also to be practically acquainted 

 with the qualities of the various public stallion dogs which are 

 offered to his choice. 



THEORY OF GENERATION AND GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF 



BREEDING. 



These are not very fully known, but what little we do know 

 on the theory of generation, and the practice of breeding, is 

 comprised in the following abstract, which for convenience is 

 divided into sentences necessarily in a dogmatic form, because the 

 arguments pro and con would occupy the whole of that space 

 which must be devoted to other matters. It comprises, however, 

 the most modern and generally received opinions upon those 

 points which interest the breeder of domestic animals, and which 

 may be studied more at length in the physiological works of Todd, 

 Bowman, and Carpenter, and in the more practical one of 

 M. Harard, ' Des Haras DomestiquesJ also in a highly interesting 

 paper on the breeding of sheep, by M. Malingie, in the last 

 number of the ' Transactions of the Royal Agricultural Society of 

 England.' 



1st. In the process of generation the action of the male consists 



