Culley, in speaking of the Short-horns, inclines to the opinion that they were originally from Holland, and himself recollected men who in the early part of their lives imported Dutch cattle into the county of Durham, and of one Mr. Dobinson he says, he was noted for having the best breed of Short-horns of any and sold at high prices. "But afterwards some other persons of less knowledge, going over, brought home some bulls that introduced the disagreeable kind of cattle called _lyery_ or _double lyered_, that is, black-fleshed. These will feed to great weight, but though fed ever so long will not have a pound of fat about them, neither within or without, and the flesh (for it does not deserve to be called beef) is as black and coarse grained as horse flesh. No man will buy one of this kind if he knows any thing of the matter, and if he should be once taken in he will remember it well for the future; people conversant with cattle very readily find them out by their round form, particularly their buttocks, which are turned like a black coach horse, and the smallness of the tail; but they are best known to the graziers and dealers in cattle by the _feel_ or _touch_ of the fingers; indeed it is this nice touch or feel of the hand that in a great measure constitutes the judge of cattle." FOOTNOTES: [15] From the Latin _Atavus_--meaning any ancestor indefinitely, as a grandmother's great grandfather. [16] "S'il n'y a pas heritage des caracteres paternels il y a donc au moins _aptitude_ a en heriter, disposition a les reproduire, et toujours cette transmission de cette aptitude a des noveau descendants, chez lesquels ces memes caracteres se manifesteront tot ou tard."--_Longet's_ "_Traite de Physiologie_," ii: 133. CHAPTER V. RELATIVE INFLUENCE OF THE PARENTS. The relative influence of the male and female parents upon the characteristics of progeny has long been a fertile subject of discussion among breeders. It is found in experience that progeny sometimes resembles one parent more than the other,--sometimes there is an apparent blending of the characteristics of both,--sometimes a noticeable dissimilarity to either, though always more or less resemblance somewhere, and sometimes, the impress of one may be seen upon a portion of the organization of the offspring and that of the other parent upon another portion; yet we are not authorized from such discrepancies to conclude that it is a matter of chance, for all of nature's operations are conducted by fixed laws, whether we be able fully to discover them or not. The same causes always produce the same results. In this case, not less than in others there are, beyond all doubt, fixed laws, and the varying results which we see are easily and sufficiently accounted for by the existence of conditions or modifying influences not fully patent to our observation.