5 67 
Extracts from British and Foreign Journals. 
ON A METHOD OE OBTAINING IMMEDIATE EIXITY OE 
TYPE IN EORMING A NEW BREED OF SHEEP. 
By M. Malingie-Noule, Director of the Agricultural 
School of La Charmoise ; President of the Agricultural 
Society of Loire et Cher. 
Translated by the late Mr. Pusey. 
( Continued from page 518.) 
Now, in all breeding, experimenters attach the greatest 
importance to purity of race on each side, because of the 
natural law by which the offspring resemble, not merely the 
father and mother, but sometimes the grand parents, great 
grand parents, and further back still. Many other observers 
as well as myself have seen in young animals the clearest 
resemblance to some ancestor long since dead who was 
marked by some distinctive feature. The purer the race of 
such ancestor, the more strongly do its characteristics over- 
come the subsequent mixture of breeds and imprint them- 
selves on the new offspring : would it not then have been 
more reasonable for French farmers to attach the utmost 
importance to purity and antiquity of blood in the ram, 
(representing as he does the improved type that is aimed at) 
but to avoid on the other hand those qualities in the ewe 
whose defects were to be corrected? In giving motion to a 
projectile (for instance a cannon-ball) the velocity obtained 
is not merely in proportion to the propelling force, but also 
to the resistance of the medium (air or water for example) 
through which the body is driven. Now in our case the 
ram represents the power of propulsion, the ewe that of 
resistance : since, if there were no obstacle on her side, the 
complete effect would be realised by the faithful reproduction 
of the improving type. Clearly, therefore, the influence of 
the ram upon the offspring will be the stronger the purer 
and more ancient in the first place his own race may be ; 
and in the next place, the less resistance is offered by the 
ewe through the possession of those qualities of purity and 
long descent which are so valuable in the sire. We have 
seen above, and it is true of every attempt at crossing in 
