286 QUINTUPLE GfeSTA^ION IN THE COW. 
Lesson a mentions that in the royal domain of Sardinia, 
among two hundred breeding cows, from 1819 to 1824, there 
was not a twin birth recorded. The method of rearing was 
common to the males and females, and being fed with the 
greatest parsimony, it will be easily understood that the 
breeding-stock was poor, and its development slow and in¬ 
complete. , This vicious custom is common to the whole 
island, so that twin births among cattle are never heard of. 
In 1824 attempts were made to improve the indigenous breed 
by changing the system of rearing, but the enterprise was 
not easily accomplished, for two reasons : the first of which 
was the difficulty in choosing animals, all being very in¬ 
ferior ; and the second the very serious obstacles offered 
through the bad notions contracted from infancy by the 
cowherds. In these circumstances Lessona proposed to the 
superior administration that the indigenous should be crossed 
with the Piedmontese breed. A herd of cows was to he 
formed, in which some bulls of the best Continental race 
were to he introduced. In 1825 there arrived fifteen cows 
and seven hulls, but the latter were too old and tall for the 
cows. Only one bull, the youngest, "was put to the Pied¬ 
montese cows which were not in calf; the others were 
castrated, as the fatigue and constraint they experienced dur¬ 
ing their voyage had made them ferocious. 
It happened that the Piedmontese cows produced four 
male calves, and these w r ere reared by Lessona with much 
care. At two years they were put with some of the least 
ungainly cows of the native race. In the following spring, out 
of ninety-seven of these cows, two had twins. 
These bulls had received, for eight months, all the milk 
furnished by their mothers, and they had afterwards been fed 
on mixed food until the moment when they were introduced 
among the cows. This same method of coupling and breeding 
was continued until 1824, with the breeding stock of the pure 
Piedmontese race; at this period there was a breed of cattle 
which left nothing to be desired, every year witnessing cows 
bringing forth twins. 
Observations made in another royal establishment which 
followed the same system, and which possessed more than 
five hundred cows, still further convinced Lessona of the 
influence a "well-conditioned bull exercises on the frequency 
of geminous births when it has been suckled for a long time. 
In 1849 a young bull—nine months old—was purchased by 
the Royal School; it continued to suck for some time after 
this, and at two years old was in magnificent condition. It 
was put to thirty-seven cows outside the school, and among 
