666 
HEREDITARY INFLUENCE. 
“ Reasoning that if the vital organs were due to the female, then the 
cross between these birds (being externally Cochins and internally common 
hens) should lay white eggs, the secretion of the egg being a vital func- 
tion. You know that the Cochin lays a chocolate-coloured egg. The half- 
breed did what theory said they should do — laid white eggs ; and not only 
white eggs, but eggs also which, on the evidence of myself and family, 
were very inferior in taste, having lost the mellow, buttery taste of the 
Cochin egg.” 
But he has recorded another curious fact respecting this 
same experiment, which might have made him aware of the 
problematical nature of his theory, had not his sagacity been 
hoodwinked by the theory : 
“These same half-bred birds afforded another and a very unlooked-for 
illustration of the position we have taken. They were all, when first 
hatched, like the Cochin cock, profusely feathered on the legs and feet, “so 
much so, that they had to be marked to distinguish them from the pure 
bred birds. We see here that, according to the law, the male parent im- 
planted his characteristics ; but what was curious, in a few weeks, in some 
of the half-breeds all, and in many most of the leg feathers were shed. 
Two out of some twenty birds only retained them in any very conspicuous 
degree. Now, why was this ? The cock had implanted his external cha- 
racteristics, the hen had given her vital organs. The feathers of the male 
were there ; but the vital organs necessary to their growth were not there ; 
and consequently, after a time, for want of nutriment, these feathers were 
shed.” 
We will not here enter on the question of the growth of 
feathers (a very complex matter), but, accepting his own 
premises, ask him, if the external characteristics are thus 
dependent on the vital organs for their growth and develop- 
ment, and these vital organs are given by the female, how 
does the child ever exhibit the characteristics of the male, 
after infancy? Of what use is it for the male to implant his 
characteristics, when the female influence is thus certain to 
annihilate them ? 
Mr. Orton further cites the practice of Bakewell with 
respect to his celebrated Dishley sheep. His rams might be 
bought or hired, for a good price ; but his best ewes were 
sacred. These he would neither sell nor let. 
As a counter-statement, let it be noted that, according to 
Girou, the farmers are more particular about the bull than 
about the cow when they want a good milking cow, for it is 
observed that the property of abundant secretion of milk is 
more certain to be transmitted from a bull than from a cow. 
We question the fact of the bull having greater influence 
than the cow, believing that in each case the property is 
transmitted according to direct heritage ; but that the bull 
should be known to have any importance in this respect, is 
