322 
PHYSIOLOGY OF BREEDING. 
a bay mare with black legs, and unites her with a male 
having the same distinctives, and if, as it frequently hap- 
pens, the foal dropped is a bright chesnut with a bald 
face and white legs, the owner is sadly disappointed and 
scarcely perhaps guesses at the reason ; and this chiefly, I 
believe, because he has frequently observed that his neighbour 
is as much annoyed with these freaks of nature as himself. 
There can be no doubt that these occurrences take place more 
frequently in different breeds of cattle rather than in races : 
that is, in breeds into which two or more distinct families have 
entered ; as for instance, the improved Short Horn, as dis- 
tinguished from the Devon or Hereford ; and to these, 
perhaps, I may add the Hampshire and South Downs among 
sheep. Yet even among these, the prevailing breeds in this 
neighbourhood, I have no doubt that many can recall instances 
of results exactly opposite to what they had hoped for and 
expected. 
It must be evident, to the most casual observer, how r 
difficult it is to lay down any laws or principles on 
which these circumstances can be explained, controlled, or 
prevented ; and any remarks of mine must be quite unneces- 
sary to convince you that an approach to a right perception 
of the causes which operate in producing these effects must 
be highly interesting and important to all engaged in agri- 
cultural pursuits. I am free to confess that I do not hope to 
throw much light on this subject from any observations or 
experiments of my own, yet by taking a cursory glance at the 
labours of others, and narrating the results they have arrived at, 
I may perhaps, by inducing a closer habit of observation 
amongst men more able and enjoying greater opportunities 
than myself, indirectly at least, add to our stock of knowledge. 
These extraordinary circumstances in our breeding of 
animals have been far too common to escape the notice of 
writers on cattle, yet hardly one of them has attempted an 
explanation, beyond a wild guess or a crude theory, until 
last year, when Mr. Orton, of Sunderland, read a paper 
on the subject before the Farmers’ Club at Newcastle-on- 
Tyne. This paper called forth a very able criticism from 
the pen of my talented townsman, Dr. A. Harvey, which 
was published in the Monthly Journal of Medical Science 
for August last ; and to that criticism I am indebted for much 
of the limited information I possess on the subject. 
Mr. Orton’s argument, as it is fairly stated in the critique 
I have just alluded to, is — ee that in the reproduction of the 
animal species there is no casual blending of the parts and 
qualities of the two parents, but that each parent contributes 
