60 PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 



insuflBcient, that God " gave" them, as he now gives to 

 some, riches or honors ; that is to say, by virtue of the 

 operation of natural laws. If all who keep cattle would 

 exercise a tithe of the patriarch's shrewdness and sa- 

 gacity in improving their stock, we should see fewer 

 ill-favored kine than at present. 



The possibility of some effect being produced by a 

 strong impression at the time of conception, is not to 

 be confounded with the popular error that "marks" 

 upon an infant* are due to a transient, although strong 

 impression upon the imagination of the mother at any 

 period of gestation, which is unsupported by facts and 

 absurd; but there are facts sufficient lipon record to 

 prove that habitual mental condition, and especially at 

 an early stage of pregnancy, may have the effect to 

 produce some bodily deformity, and should induce 

 great caution. 



* Carpenter's Physiology, new edition, page 783. 



