gent breeders he had ever met
with, told him that one of his cows chanced to come into season while
pasturing on a field bounded by that of one of his neighbors, out of
which field an ox jumped and went with the cow until she was brought
home to the bull. The ox was white, with black spots, and horned. Mr.
Mustard had not a horned beast in his possession, nor one with any
white on it. Nevertheless, the produce of the following spring was a
black and white calf with horns.

The case of Jacob is often quoted in support of this view, and
although many believe some miraculous agency to have been exerted in
his case, and though he could say with truth, "God hath taken away the
cattle of your father and given them to me," it seems, on the whole,
more probable, inasmuch as supernatural agency may never be presumed,
except where we know, or have good reason to believe, that natural
causes are insufficient, that God "gave" them, as he now gives to
some, riches or honors; that is to say, by virtue of the operation of
natural laws. If all who keep cattle would exercise a tithe of the
patriarch's shrewdness and sagacity in improving their stock, we
should see fewer ill-favored kine than at present.

The possibility of some effect being produced by a strong impression
at the time of conception, is not to be confounded with the popular
error that "marks" upon an infant[14] are due to a transient, although
strong impression upon the imagination of the mother at any period of
gestation, which is unsupported by facts and absurd; but there are
facts sufficient upon record to prove that _habitual_ mental
condition, and especially at an early stage of pregnancy, _may_ have
the effect to produce some bodily deformity, and should induce great
caution.

FOOTNOTES:

[3] See Rowley's Prize Report on Farming in Derbyshire, in Journal of
Royal Agricultural Society, Vol. 14.

[4] A _working bull_, though perhaps not so pleasing to the eye as a
fat one, (for fat sometimes covers a multitude of defects,) is a surer
stock-getter; and his progeny is more likely to inherit full health and
vigor.

[5] In his Origin of Species.

[6] It was long ago stated by Haller, that when a mare had a foal by an
ass and afterwards another by a horse, the second offspring begotten by
the horse nevertheless approached in character to a mule.

[7] See Abd el Kader's letter.

[8] Journal of Medical Science, 1850.

[9] Kirke's Physiology.

[10] Philosophic