PHYSIOLOGY OF BREEDING. 
321 
previous day she had given no indications of serious ill health. 
A farrier had bled her before my visit, and which, no doubt, 
accelerated her death, for she expired soon after my arrival. 
The owner expressed a wish that I should make a post-mortem 
examination, which I did on the following morning, and 
found the spleen and liver in the condition I have sent them 
to you. She had several melanotic tumours in other parts of 
the body, and the lungs also were studded with these charac- 
teristic deposits, but not to the extent displayed by the liver 
or spleen. The abdominal cavity was partly filled with fluid, 
as several pailfuls escaped when the linea alba was divided. 
[The spleen was much increased in bulk, weighing about 
thirty-six pounds avoirdupois. In its general outline it did 
not differ materially from the normal shape, but on its sur- 
faces it was much altered in form, these being considerably 
nodulated. On section, it presented an entire mass of 
melanotic deposit, there being to the unassisted vision no trace 
whatever left of the original structure of the organ. The 
liver was also freely studded with melanotic tumours.] 
ON THE PHYSIOLOGY OF BREEDING. 
The substance of a Paper read before the South Hants 
Farmers’ Club. 
By J. D, Barford, M.R.C.V.S., Southampton. 
Although from the nature of the agricultural pursuits 
that are carried on in this immediate neighbourhood, the 
subject I have selected may not be so interesting as it would 
be to those who farm in a district where breeding is more 
generally practised, yet to all agriculturalists it is too impor- 
tant a one not to command a good deal of attention. I have 
chosen it with much diffidence ; firstly , because it is one with 
which all of you may be considered more practically con- 
versant than myself ; and secondly > because I must be indebted 
to the observations and opinions of others for most of the 
facts from which, in a great measure, I have drawn my con- 
clusions. 
After this prelude, I shall begin by remarking that 
really but little is known physiologically of the subject, 
and probably it is from this cause that the breeders of our 
domesticated animals are so frequently disappointed at the 
result of their experiments. For example, a man selects 
