The saying among nurses, that 'This is the year for sons or daughters,' is based upon the erroneous supposition that mothers bring forth more male infants in one year than in another. That, however, which concerns us the most in this connection, is the question: CAN THE SEXES BE PRODUCED AT WILL? This question was asked many centuries ago. It was a hard one, and remained without a satisfactory answer until quite recently. Science has at last replied to it with authority. M. Thury, Professor in the Academy of Geneva, has shown how males and females may be produced in accordance with our wishes. Some families are most anxious for male offspring, others ardently desire daughters. And would it not often be a matter of national concern to control the percentage of sexes in the population? Is it not a 'consummation most devoutly to be wished,' to bring about that Utopian condition when there would be no sighing maids at home, nor want of warriors in the field? The discussion of this subject is therefore important and allowable. It has been observed that queen-bees lay female eggs first, and male eggs afterwards. So with hens: the first-laid eggs give female, the last male products. Mares shown the stallion late in their periods, drop horse-colts rather than fillies. Professor Thury, from the consideration of these and other like facts, formed this law for stock-raisers: 'If you wish to produce females, give the male at the first signs of heat; if you wish males, give him at the end of the heat.' But it is easy to form a theory. How was this law sustained in practice? We have now in our possession the certificate of a Swiss stock-grower, son of the President of the Swiss Agricultural Society, Canton de Vaud, under date of February 1867, which says: 'In the first place, on twenty-two successive occasions I desired to have heifers. My cows were of Schurtz breed, and my bull a pure Durham. I succeeded in these cases. Having bought a pure Durham cow, it was very important for me to have a new bull, to supersede the one I had bought at great expense, without leaving to chance the production of a male. So I followed accordingly the prescription of Professor Thury, and the success has proved once more the truth of the law. I have obtained from my Durham bull six more bulls (Schurtz-Durham cross) for fieldwork; and having chosen cows of the same color and height, I obtained perfect matches of oxen. My herd amounted to forty cows of every age. 'In short, I have made in all twenty-nine experiments after the new method, and in every one I succeeded in the production of what I was looking for--male and female. I had not one single failure. All the experiments have been made by myself, without any other person's intervention; consequently, I do declare that I consider as real and certainly perfect the method of Professor Thury.'