figure as the ancestress of a classic winner is Thwaite’s Dun mare, No. 38, to whom traces Pot–8–Os (a son of Eclipse), whose own son was Waxy, sire of Whalebone, to whom, in tail male, run all the famous horses of to-day, which come from the Birdcatcher and Touchstone tribes, and they are legion. These are two of the great pillars of the temple of Eclipse, the third and, perhaps, central support, being Blacklock. That then, is the main object of Bruce Lowe’s “Figure System”—to identify each of the fifty original mares in a simple and handy manner. And this has been done. Mr. Lowe claimed that his system would “revolutionise our methods of mating the thoroughbred horse.” I think that it has done so. Few people care to publish, or peruse, a tabulated pedigree nowadays without the figures being appended to each horse in the table. And I can scarcely think it possible that every racing man of to-day does not see, in his mind’s eye, the name of each horse of whose pedigree he is thinking, without also visualising its appended number. When you mention St. Simon, for instance, you immediately know that his family number is 11, and that therefore, on the dam’s side, he runs to the Sedbury Royal mare. Stockwell’s name at once calls up No. 3, and you understand in a moment that his tap-root is Dam of the Two True Blues. And so on, throughout all the names in any given pedigree. At a glance you know to what family you are in-breeding, and, therefore, how to outcross, if you so desire. Mr. Lowe had numerous side issues to his system, and with these you may, or you may not, agree. He propounded the theory that horses received certain qualities direct from the female side of their house, as, for instance, that prepotency which goes far to ensure that a horse will develop into a sire. That may or may not be true. Personally, I am sure, so far as one can be certain of anything, that it is. He put a hall-mark upon such horses by printing their family figure in thick type. Thus, in a tabulated pedigree, you will always notice the numbers 3, 8, 11, 12, and 14 printed after that particular style, and then in a moment you understand that these, according to Lowe, possessed “sire characteristics.” He believed in the theory of “Saturation,” at least to some extent, and wrote about it in his book. But that is beyond our scope in this volume, and we shall not discuss it here. He also wrote, instructively, upon how to breed “Great Stake Horses,” and “How Great Fillies are mostly Bred,” the “Breeding of Sprinters,” and an excellent chapter on “Phenomenal Racehorses,” and you will find much to make you think if you peruse these. Mr. Bruce Lowe’s influence has been very great in the Thoroughbred Turf world, and he has been much assisted by the erudition and enthusiasm of his Editor, Mr. William Allison, of the English “Sportsman,” and the owner and manager of the Cobham Stud. For, unfortunately, Mr. Lowe was in very bad health