adian or Norman blood there is a remote, dormant strain of pure blood, probably Andalusian Arab, which assimilates well with modern thorough blood; and the breeding back will often, in that case, so far reïnvigorate the race, that the fillies produced by that union will often reproduce animals of astonishing excellence by a farther cross with well-chosen thorough blood of the present day.
We have touched slightly on the effect produced by the intermingling, or crossing and re-crossing of various distinct or cognate strains of blood, and the result on the character of the stock. When a cross of this sort is eminently successful in any particular line, for a number of years and in a majority of instances, we are accustomed to say that such or such a blood has "hit" or "nicked" with another; and this effect is not dependent solely on the intrinsic excellence of either blood, but on some unknown and mysterious influence produced, in one or more generations, by the cross. For instance, Priam, the son of Emilius, son of Orville, out of Emily, and Cressida, daughter of Whiskey, out of Sorcerer's dam by Diomed, was not only one of the most successful runners, if not the most successful, of his day, but in England was nearly as successful a stallion, having begot, previous to his exportation, an unusual number of winners. He was subsequently purchased and brought to this country, where the most sanguine expectations were formed of the great advantage which would accrue from the infusion of his singularly rich and noble blood. The result, however, was diametrically opposite to that which was expected.
Scarcely a horse of any repute has been begotten by this stallion in the United States, although his high reputation for blood, beauty, and performances, procured for him more than his proportion of the best blooded and otherwise best mares in the country. Many persons—
