Board Thread:The Reference Desk/@comment-74.106.61.93-20130224211810/@comment-6433721-20130306084222

Oh, I don't know. The specific wording in the episode was "used...in one go". Used, not transferred, not gave. That definitely suggests the Doctor doesn't get to keep them.

As for River's species, consider: Amy had the crack in space-time, the universe running through her head as a child. She's shown the ability to retain paradoxical knowledge that even most human time-travellers would not, and was intuitive enough to create a sonic probe - something so far beyond human tech that this Doctor has said at least twice it would instantly betray his position on Earth. Also, River's conception in the Vortex and the experimentation changed her significantly genetically. Remember that we learned from Rose (in both The Unquiet Dead and Journey's End) that the Doctor specifically decides against romantic involvement based on species differences. So, after he saw the genetic data and found out Melody was River - even before the Doctor had seen her regenerate - he IMMEDIATELY changed his attitude about their prior kiss and the prospect of their future romantic involvement. (He even preened!)

So, if the Doctor thinks she's close enough to Time Lord, I do as well. ;)