HEREDITARY INFLUENCE. 
593 
the male.* When two doctors of such importance differ 
on a point like this, we may suspect that both are right 
and both are wrong ; and here our suspicion is supported 
by the mass of facts adduced in the experiments of 
M. Sagaret,t which refute the hypothesis of Linnaeus and 
the hypothesis of De Candolle. What we have just indi- 
cated w 7 ith regard to plants, has been the course pursued 
with regard to animals : one class of observations has seemed 
to prove that the father bestows the “ animal system 
another class of observations has seemed to prove that the 
mother bestows it ; and a third class has proved both 
theories inadequate. Quite recently General Daumas pub- 
lished the result of his long experience with Arab horses, J 
arguing that according to the testimony of the Arabs, the 
stallion was the most valuable for purposes of breeding. 
Upon this, the Inspecteur des Haras , who had traversed Asia 
for the express purpose of collecting evidence on the subject, 
published his diametrically opposite conclusion, declaring that 
it was the mare whose influence preponderated in the foal. 
General Daumas replied, and cited a letter addressed to him by 
Abd-el-Kader, who may certainly be said to understand Arab 
horses better than Europeans. The letter is worth reading 
for its own sake ; we can, however, only quote its testimony 
on the particular point now under discussion. cc The expe- 
rience of centuries has established, ” he says, “ that the 
essential parts of the organization, such as the bones, the 
tendons, the nerves, and the veins, are always derived from 
the stallion. The mare may give the colour and some 
resemblance to her structure, but the principal qualities are 
due to the stallion.” This is very weighty testimony, on 
which we will only for the present remark, that it merely 
asserts the preponderance of the male influence as respects the 
locomotive system ; it does not assert that absolute inde- 
pendence of any female influence, maintained in the formula 
of Prevost and Daumas, Lallemand and others, w hich we are 
novr combatting. Abd-el-Kader’ s statement is tantamount 
to that made by Mr. Orton, — 
“I do not mean it to be inferred that either parent gives either set of 
organs uninfluenced by the other parent ; but merely that the leading cha- 
racteristics and qualities of both sets of qualities are due to the male on the 
one side, and to the female on the other, the opposite parent modifying 
them only.” 
* ‘ Physiologie Yegetale’, p. 716. 
f ‘Pomologie Physiologique,’ p. 555, sq. 
$ * Les Chevaux de Sahara see also an article in the * Revue des Deux 
Mondes, 5 May, 1855, on Le Cheval de Guerre. 
xxix, 76 
