VETERINARIAN. 
VOL. XXIX 
No. 337. 
JANUARY, 1856. 
Fourth Series, 
No. 13. 
Communications and Cases. 
A SUMMARY OF REPLIES TO A SERIES OF 
QUESTIONS ON BREEDING OF ANIMALS. 
By G. W. Varnell, Assistant-Professor at the Royal 
Veterinary College. 
The readers of the Veterinarian will remember that the 
questions proposed on the above subject were principally of 
a physiological character, and many of them were of such a 
nature that few persons, perhaps, were in a position to answer ; 
while books on physiology, both human and comparative, 
are silent on the subject ; hence we are desirous of putting 
on record the opinions we have already received. 
The profession will have observed, that we did not ask 
how horses were bred, or the rules which breeders follow to 
secure the best stock, these being matters of detail, only to 
be learned by experience ; but we wished to know whether 
science could not assist the practical breeder, and thus bring 
physiological laws to bear on the question of propagating 
the species, in a manner that has not hitherto been effected. 
We regret to say, that the information furnished us has not 
been so full as we could have wished ; but if we should here- 
after learn that our questions have caused the junior members 
of our profession to work in the sense we speak of, we shall 
have less reason to regret our not being able at present to 
give all the assistance we are desirous of doing to breeders. 
His Royal Highness Prince Albert, in his recent speech at 
Birmingham, has so well put these, our opinions, before the 
public, that we shall be excused if we bring his observations 
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