Fig. 57.—Brown hackney, examined 29th October, 1914. On under surface of neck beneath the lowest portion of an ill-fitting collar, a wide area of reversed hair on each side coalescing in a central upward stream.
Fig. 58.—Brown hackney engaged in drawing a low Swiss cart, with loose collar low on neck. Examined at the Croix in Jura mountains, 24th September, 1912. On lower surface of neck under the collar three reversed areas observed; one central (F), two (W, C) central and similar; all three showing a whorl, feathering and crest: central area placed vertically, lateral ones slightly oblique. A very rare condition.
I examined some mares of the farm-horse type with their foals in a field at Radley in 1915 with the following results. All the mothers showed the common reversed area or pattern on the under surfaces of their necks. Of the five foals all but one showed clear evidence, even in their thick young coats, of a similar pattern, the fifth had none. I also noted two similar examples in a field at Harrogate in the same year and both the mothers and the foals showed the usual pattern; and again at Radley in 1918 four more foals, one of them 24 hours old, who all showed this reversed area. Here then are ten examples of undoubted transmission of the effects of pressure by harness in subjects so young as to be still suckled by their dams, and, of course, never themselves touched by such pressure. I submit that even one such unmistakable example would be enough to prove the case, and that the necessary conditions of a rigorous undesigned experiment by man have been fulfilled.
Objections.
At the end of this chapter which concludes the facts of the case I think it may serve to make the position a little clearer if I state objections which have been or might be raised.