OPPONENTS OF TELEGONY 8i 



are not rare when colts are born with stripes which 

 recall the markings of a quagga or zebra. We shall 

 return to this point later. 



A considerable number of German breeders support 

 the contention of Weismann that telegony is as yet 

 unproven, and it may be pointed out that in Germany, 

 on the whole, breeders have had a more scientific 

 education than in England, and that in that country 

 science is regarded with less aversion or contempt 

 than is usually the case among so-called practical men 

 in England. Settegast has been quoted above : neither 

 he nor Nathusius, a leading authority on domestic 

 cattle, has ever met with a case of telegony, and the 

 same is true of Professor Kiihn, the late Director of 

 the Prussian Agricultural Station at Halle. We may 

 mention one more case of an experienced breeder who 

 was equally sceptical — the late Sir Everett Millais, 

 who was, as is well known, an authority of great 

 weight in the matter of dog-breeding. He writes as 

 follows, in a lecture entitled 'Two Problems of 

 Reproduction ' : 



' I may further adduce the fact that in a breeding experience 

 of nearly thirty years' standing, during which I have made all 

 sorts of experiments with pure-bred dams and wild sires, and 

 returned them afterwards to pure sires of their own breeds, I 

 have never seen a case of telegony, nor has my breeding-stock 

 suffered. I may further adduce the fact that I have made over 

 fifty experiments for Professor Romanes to induce a case of 

 telegony in a variety of animals — dogs, ducks, hens, pigeons, 

 etc. — but I have hopelessly failed, as has every single experi- 

 menter who has tried to produce the phenomenon.' 



It is thus evident that there was a considerable 

 body of opinion, both practical and theoretical, for and 

 against telegony; and that a re-investigation of the 

 subject was urgently needed. Such a re-investigation 

 has been begun by Professor Ewart at Penycuik. 

 Since the clearest and most definite evidence of this 



6 



