al Transactions for 1821.

[11] The late M.A. Cuming, V.S., of New Brunswick, once remarked to the
writer, that it might be due to the fact that the nerves of the uterus,
which before the first impregnation were in a rudimentary state, were
developed under a specific influence from the semen of the first male,
and that they might retain so much of a peculiar style of development
as to impress upon future progeny by other males the likeness of the
first.

[12] Edinburgh Journal Medical Science, 1849.

[13] A very striking fact may be related in this connection, which
while it may or may not have a practical bearing on the breeding of
domestic animals, shows forcibly how mysterious are some of the laws of
reproduction. It is stated by the celebrated traveler, Count de
Strzelecki, in his Physical Description of New South Wales and Van
Dieman's Land. "Whenever," he says, "a fruitful intercourse has taken
place between an aboriginal woman and an European male, that aboriginal
woman is forever after incapable of being impregnated by a male of her
own nation, although she may again be fertile with a European." The
Count, whose means and powers of observation are of the highest
possible order, affirms that "hundreds of instances of this
extraordinary fact are on record in the writer's memoranda all
recurring invariably under the same circumstances, all tending to prove
that the sterility of the female, which is relative only to one and not
to the other male is not accidental, but follows laws as cogent though
as mysterious as the rest of those connected with generation." The
Count's statement is endorsed by Dr. Maunsell of Dublin, Dr. Carmichael
of Edinburgh, and the late Prof. Goodsir, who say they have learned
from independent sources that as regards Australia, Strzelecki's
statement is unquestionable and must be regarded as the expression of a
law of nature. The law does not extend to the negro race, the fertility
of the negro female not being apparently impaired by previous fruitful
intercourse with a European male.

In reply to an inquiry made whether he had ever noticed exceptional
cases, the Count says: "It has not come under my cognizance to see or
hear of a native female which having a child with a European had
afterwards any offspring with a male of her own race."

The Count's statement is suggestive as to the disappearance of the
aborigines of some countries. This has often been the subject of severe
comment an