344 OBSERVATIONS ON ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY. 
celebrated for their symmetry of proportions and powers of 
endurance ; yet when brought under the refined control of man, 
they often degenerate. The law of nature provides that good 
qualities shall be propagated by the union of animals possessing 
good qualities; and that defects, faults, and infirmities are in 
like manner transmitted. Large sums of money have been ex- 
pended, from time to time, in importing from abroad first class 
stock ; yet, after a few generations, the offspring are found to 
be no better than the native stock. This often arises from the 
destructive practice of breeding in a close degree of relationship; 
and this error, I would remind you, has proved equally fatal in 
the human family. In Spain, the deformed and feeble state of 
the aristocracy arises from the alliances being confined to the 
same class of relatives through successive generations. 
“ That the live stock of our farmers frequently deteriorates, 
no one will deny. Horses, in particular, are fast degenerating. 
What is the cause of it ! You have a great number of ill-shaped, 
broken-down studs going about the country, whose offspring 
hardly pay the expense of rearing. Under these circumstances, 
and when the farmer can obtain the services of studs at his own 
door, for the paltry sum of three dollars, it will be difficult to 
effect a change. Gentlemen, if you wish to prevent this degene- 
racy, instruct your representatives to advocate the enactment 
of a law prohibiting the breeding to stallions unless they 
possess the requisite qualifications of soundness, form, size, style 
and colour. Depend upon it, there are some physical defects 
about animals when the owners can afford their services at so 
low a rate. In many cases their powers are overtaxed, and the 
produce is weak and inefficient. You are all aware of woful 
results attending too frequent sexual intercourse. The records 
of our lunatic asylums tell a sad tale of woe. They teach you 
that before the blast of this dire calamity, sexual escape, lofty 
minds, f the suns and stars of our intellectual world,’ are blotted 
out ; it spares neither age, sex nor kind. I cannot on the present 
occasion go into details, but shall conclude the subject with the 
old maxim, that ‘ From the brave descend the brave.’ 
“ In reference to veterinary education, a science which has 
for its object the preservation in health, and the restoration from 
disease, of all classes of domestic animals, is of importance to 
you. On the present occasion I shall merely shew the benefits 
of its direct application to the horse, from which you will be 
able to estimate its value when applied to other animals. Un- 
fortunately the science has received but little attention at the 
hands of the American people. Horse-doctors, intemperance, 
and ignorance, have heretofore, with a few exceptions, been so 
Ultimately blended, that you have judged of the profession by 
