1SS5.] Hereditary Transmission of Stature in Horses. 407 
of the visions of Swedenborg is founded on the fa<5t that 
whilst he could furnish descriptions of planets known in his 
time, such as Jupiter or Saturn, he gives no hint of the 
existence of Uranus and Neptune, which were then unknown 
to astronomers. Had he done so his visions would have 
been completely freed from the stain of delusion or im- 
posture. 
Upon witchcraft Spiritualism has thrown a new and un- 
expected light. If it was, as was generally held in the first 
half of this century, a mere delusion, then the punishments 
by which it was suppressed were gratuitous atrocities ; but 
if the witches had really the powers attributed to them in 
the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, — if they 
could really blight corn, afflict man and beast with disease, 
pestilence, and death, or if they served as “ mediums ” for 
malignant spirits, — then their extirpation was not merely a 
duty, but a necessity, though the painful task unfortunately 
was carried out with needless cruelty. 
VI. THE HEREDITARY TRANSMISSION OF 
STATURE TO FEMALE DESCENDANTS 
IN HORSES, 
AND THE FACTORS WHICH DETERMINE SEX. 
5j/xA RS. SCHLECHTER and DUSING have made cer- 
(ig/ tain interesting observations on these subjects, 
which are recorded in “ Koch’s Revue fur Thier- 
heilkunde,” in the “ Deutsch. Zeitschrift fur Thiermedicin,” 
and in the “ Jena Zeitschrift fur Naturwissenschaft.” 
The following are their principal conclusions ; — 
1 . The average size of female progeny in horses — without 
reference to the crossing of different races — approxi- 
mates more to the average stature of the mother than 
to that of the father. 
2. Even abstracting from an average heredity of size, the 
stature of the female offspring is, in individual cases, 
nearer that of the mother than that of the father. 
