INFLUENCE OP SEX. 283 



are enstamped on the progeny. This has been.attribufed to 

 the nervous influence of the dam — or what is called the in- 

 fluence of the imagination of the dam.on the foetus. Prac- 

 tical men believe -there is something in this. Professional 

 breeders avail themselves of the principle in giving to their 

 animals some desired marks or qualities. It must have been 

 something akin to this, by the influence of which, through 

 the medium of peeled rods, Jacob caused the cattle to he 

 born ' ringed, streaked, and speckled.' Breeders of horses 

 sometimes take great pains to operate on the imagination of 

 the mare, and thus produce in the foal certain characteristics. 

 At the time of conception, or within the first month after- 

 wards, the fcBtus seems to be particularly susceptible to this 

 influence, and it is not diflicult to produce the changes spo- 

 ken of. Some striking instances of the effect of this sym- 

 pathetic influence might be given. One of the most re- 

 markable, perhaps, as showing the evidence of anterior ex- 

 citement, is that of a mare, seven-eighths of Arabian blood, 

 after having produced a foal by a stallion quagga, (a species 

 of zebra,) continued, after a lapse of five years, to reproduce 

 the markings of that animal, at three successive births, al- 

 though the sire of all the subsequent progeny was a thorough 

 bred, Arab horse. This is a well authenticated fact, and 

 correct portraits of the mare, the hybrid, and the three foals 

 which the mare afterwards had by the horse, the latter 

 showing the stripes of the quagga, are preserved. 



" The influence of one black sheep, though it may never 

 have any progeny, is often noticed in causing black lambs. 

 Shepherds who have kept black dogs with their sheep, have 

 observed the same effect. The nervous influence of animals 

 in a state of pregnancy, shows itself very conspicuously in 

 the effects of fright on the offspring. Many cases of this 

 kind might be cited in the human species, as well as in our 

 domestic animals." 



In immediate connection with his closing remarks, the 

 writer will state, that he makes it a point never to breed from 

 sires or dams that are otherwise than entirely white, yet a 

 few years since one of his highest bred ewes produced a 

 lamb whose head and tail were perfectly white, but every- 

 where else jetty black, and thus resembled a skunk. From 

 this it is not unreasonable to suppose that, in the early stage 

 of gestation, one of these disgusting animals crossed the path 

 of the ewe, causing such a degree of fright as to impress the 



