Mr. Christian, in his essay, supports the view, that the offspring
bears the greatest resemblance to that parent whether male or female,
which has exerted the greatest sway of generative influence in the
formation of the foetus, "that any hypothesis which would assign a
superiority, or set limits to the influence of either sex in the
product of generation is unsound and inadmissible," and he thus
concludes--"as therefore it is unsafe to trust to the qualities of any
individual animal, male or female, in improving stock, the best bred
and most perfect animals of both sexes should be selected and employed
in propagation; there being, in short, no other certain or equally
efficacious means of establishing or preserving an eligible breed."

Mr. Dallas, in his essay, starts with the idea that the seminal fluid
of the male invests the ovum, the formation of which he ascribes to
the female; and he supports the opinion, that where external
appearance is concerned, the influence of the male will be discovered;
but in what relates to internal qualities, the offspring will take
most from the female. He concludes thus:--"When color, quality of
fleece, or outward form is wanted, the male may be most depended on
for these; but when milk is the object, when disposition, hardiness,
and freedom from diseases of the viscera, and, in short, all internal
qualities that may be desired, then the female may be most relied on."

One of the most valuable of these papers was written by the Rev. Henry
Berry of Worcestershire, in which, after stating that the question
proposed is one full of difficulty and that the discovery of an
independent quality such as that alluded to, in either sex, would be
attended with beneficial results, he proceeds to show, that it is not
to sex, but to high blood, or in other words, to animals long and
successfully selected, and bred with a view to particular
qualifications, whether in the male or female parent, that the quality
is to be ascribed, which the Highland Society has been desirous to
assign correctly.

The origin of the prevalent opinion which assigns this power
principally to the male, he explains by giving the probable history of
the first efforts in improving stock. The greatest attention would
naturally be paid to the male, both on account of his more extended
services, and the more numerous produce of which he could become the
parent; in consequence of which sires would be well-bred before dams.