340 
HEREDITARY TENDENCY TO DISEASE 
of opinion that the cause is hereditary, and may be transmitted 
from sire to son. Indeed, it is natural to suppose that, if “ the 
good qualities of animals are communicable to their offspring, so 
are the bad” It is the proper study and application of these prin- 
ciples that constitutes the grand secret of improving the different 
breeds of animals. And not only may natural defects be commu- 
nicated from one generation to another generation, but deformities, 
the result of accidents, are also communicable. In the endeavour 
to investigate the above subject abundant evidence has been found 
to warrant this conclusion. 
“ A stallion named ‘ Dominie Samson,’ who had run very suc- 
cessfully in this country, but was fired in both hocks for curbs , was 
purchased by the East India Company, and sent out as a cover- 
ing stallion to the stud at Buxar, where, for five years, he had 
much about forty foals annually : they were generally affected with 
spavins or curbs y so much so, that only one of his stock passed into 
the cavalry ; and, consequently, he was discarded from the Com- 
pany’s stud.” 
A Major Hunter also records that he knew a “ stallion that had 
encysted tumours at the point of his elbows, and most of his stock 
were affected in the same manner.” 
“ An Irish stallion, named ' Musician,’ had very bad fore-legs, 
and none of his stock were strong in the fore-extremities.” 
An accidental natural defect is often propagated from parents to 
their offspring, and continues thus as a peculiar breed. Mr. Blaine 
mentions a singular breed of swine that did not part the hoof, but 
were what naturalists calls solidungular, havin gfeet resembling the 
feet of horses. There is also the Ancon , or otter breed of sheep, 
described by Colonel Humphries, in the Phil. Trans, for 1813, 
part 1. These sheep were derived from an American lamb, born 
with legs deformed and most disproportionately short to the rest 
of his body ; the fore-legs were extremely crooked, which, added 
to their shortness, rendered him unable to run or break fences. 
With these qualities it was determined to attempt a breed of this 
kind ; and, by confining the intercourse between him and his 
future offspring, it succeeded, and the Ancon or otter breed is now 
established. 
In the records of the transactions of the Linnean Society of 
London is found an account, by Mr. Milne, of a pregnant cat, his 
own property, the end of whose tail was trodden on with so much 
violence as appeared to give the animal intense pain. When she 
kittened, five young ones appeared, perfect in every other respect 
except the tail, which was, in each one of them, distorted near the 
end, and enlarged into a cartilaginous knob. In this case it is 
probable the tail of the animal had been so much bruised as to 
