ON BREEDING. 
615 
One would suppose that the doctrines of Hamme and Leeuwen¬ 
hoek actually prevailed, even at this enlightened period, when 
we see breeders paying very little attention to the female, whilst 
all their discrimination and judgment appears to be exercised in 
choosing the male, under the supposition that the embryo is 
formed entirely by the male, and brought into action by a sti¬ 
mulus from the female; they considering the latter to be a mere 
hoi-becl for bringing the foetus to maturity. 
Some of the French veterinarians are staunch supporters of 
this doctrine. M. Godine,jun. says, alluding to the comparative 
influence of the male and female in breeding, “ that the English 
are indebted for their superior breed of horses entirely to their 
judicious choice of the males. 1 ’ The part of the females in the 
great act of reproduction, he considers, “ is limited to perform 
the same office that the earth does for vegetables; she is com¬ 
monly nothing more than a receptacle in which is deposited the 
seed of generation:” “ such,” says he, “ is the opinion which has 
arisen from my researches and experiments on the subject; and 
here behold,” he continues, “ is the vAole secret of the English ; 
let us imitate them ; let us have their perseverance , their sagacity , 
and we shall also arrive at the same results.” This author really 
appears to have made a most wonderful discovery; and his 
countrymen may congratulate themselves in possessing the clue 
that will instruct them in an infallible method of breeding. 
* i j 
Reformation has, in a most unprecedented and extraordinary 
manner, taken place in the military, the civil, and the legislative 
institutions of France. We beg most humbly to recommend to 
the King of the French a reform also in their breeding depart¬ 
ment. We have elsewhere stated, that France is very inferior to 
England in respect to her domestic animals: various have been 
the opinions formed on the subject. We think that little more 
need be said on the subject, after the miserable specimen exhi¬ 
bited of the French method of breeding. It is a subject of sur¬ 
prise, that in times so highly enlightened as the present, when 
many antient prejudices are gradually flitting away, as reason and 
science dawn on mankind, that we should meet with such gross 
ignorance. Well may M. C. Dupin recommend that the 40,000 
ecclesiastics at present scattered over the surface of the country 
should be employed in giving the rural inhabitants of France 
more correct ideas as to the principles on which the health and 
vigour of their domestic animals depend, in order to correct the 
faulty system at present employed. But we cannot suppose for 
an instant that the Leeuwenhoek doctrine generally prevails in 
that enlightened country. We are, therefore, inclined to consider 
tlie low and mean state of agriculture to be one of the principal 
