and, in general, acquired characters are transient-they terminate with the individual, and have no influence on the progeny." He supports the first of these propositions with a variety of facts occurring in the Porcupine family, in the hereditary nature of complexion, and in the growth of supernumerary fingers or toes, and corresponding deficiencies. "Maupertuis has mentioned this phenomenon : he assures us that there were two families in Germany who had been distinguished for several generations by six fingers on each hand, and the same number of toes on each foot,' &c. Dr. Prichard, at the same time, admits that the second proposition is of more difficult proof, and that "an opinion contrary to it has been maintained by some writers, and a variety of singular facts have been related in support of it." But many of these relations, as he justly observes, are obviously fables. The following facts, however, certainly militate against it.

دو

A man's first child was of sound mind; afterwards he had a fall from his horse, by which his head was much injured. His next two children proved to be idiots. After this he was trepanned, and had two other children, and they were of sound mind. This case was communicated to me by a medical practitioner of Douglas, in the Isle of Man.

2. There are some curious facts which seem to prove that acquired habits are hereditary, at least in the inferior animals. A strong illustration is quoted in the Edinburgh Review, Vol. XLII., p. 457 :

Every one conversant with beasts," says the writer, "knows that not only their natural but that many of their acquired qualities are transmitted by the parents to their offspring. Perhaps the most curious example of the latter fact may be found in the Pointer.

"This animal is endowed with the natural instinct of winding game, and stealing upon his prey, which he surprises, having first made a short pause, in order to launch himself upon it with more security of success. This sort of semicolon in his proceedings Man converts into a full stop, and teaches him to be as much pleased at seeing the bird or beast drop by the shooter's gun as at taking it himself. The staunchest dog of this kind, and the original pointer, is of Spanish origin, and our own is derived from this race,

"Researches into the Physical History of Mankind," Vol. II.,

p. 536.

crossed with that of the foxhound or other breed of dog, for the sake of improving his speed.

"This mixed and factitious race, of course, naturally partakes less of the true pointer character: that is to say, is less disposed to stop, or at least, he makes a shorter stop, at game. The factitious pointer is, however, disciplined, in this country, into staunchness; and, what is most singular, this quality is, to a certain degree, inherited by his puppy, who may be seen earnestly standing at swallows or pigeons in a farm-yard. For intuition, though it leads the offspring to exercise his parent's faculties, does not instruct him how to direct them. The preference of his master afterwards guides him in his selection, and teaches him what game is better worth pursuit. On the other hand, the pointer of pure Spanish race, unless he happens to be well broke himself-which in the south of Europe seldom happens-produces a race which are all but unteachable, according to our notions of a pointer's business. They will make a stop at their game, as natural instinct prompts them, but seem incapable of being drilled into the habits of the animal which education has formed in this country, and has rendered, as I have said, in some degree capable of transmitting his acquirements to his descendants.

66

Acquired habits are hereditary in other animals besides dogs. English sheep, probably from the greater richness of our pastures, feed very much together; while Scotch sheep are obliged to extend and scatter themselves over their hills for the better discovery of food. Yet the English sheep, on being transferred to Scotland, keep their old habit of feeding in a mass, though so little adapted to their new country; so do their descendants; and the English sheep is not thoroughly naturalised into the necessities of his place till the third generation. The same thing may be observed as to the nature of his food that is observed in his mode of seeking it. When turnips were introduced from England into Scotland, it was only the third generation which heartily adopted this diet, the first having been starved into an acquiescence in it.

66

It has been remarked also that in Spanish America the amble, the pace to which the domestic horse is there exclusively trained, becomes in the course of some generations hereditary, and is assumed by the young ones without teaching."

*Encyclopædia Britannica," loc. cit.

3. Impressions on the mind of the mother, especially those received through the senses, often produce a palpable effect on the offspring. On this subject Dr. Prichard observes: "The opinion which formerly prevailed, and which has been entertained by some modern writers, among whom is Dr. Darwin, that at the period when organisation commences in the ovum-that is, at or soon after the time of conceptionthe structure of the foetus is capable of undergoing modification from impressions on the mind or senses of the parent, does not appear altogether so improbable. It is contradicted, at least, by no fact in physiology. It is an opinion of very ancient prevalence, and may be traced to so remote a period, that its rise cannot be attributed to the speculations of philosophers; and it is difficult to account for the origin of such a persuasion, unless we ascribe it to facts which happened to be observed."

The following case fell under my own observation :— W. B., a shoemaker in Edinburgh, called and showed me his. son, aged eighteen, who was in a state of idiocy. He was simple and harmless, but never could do anything for himself. The father said that his wife was sound in mind; that he had three other children all sound; and that the only account he could ever give of the origin of the condition of this son was the following: He kept a small tavern and some months before the birth of this boy an idiot lad came to his house with a brewer's drayman, and helped him to lift casks off the cart into the cellar. The idiot made a strong impression on his wife, and she complained that she could not get his appearance removed from her mind, on which account she afterwards kept out of the way when he came to the house. The son was weak in body and silly in mind from birth, and had the slouched and slovenly appearance of the idiot.

"It is peculiarly lamentable to observe," says Dr. Mason Good, in reference to deafness and dumbness, "that when the defect has once made an entrance into a family, whether from the influence it produces on the nervous system of the mother, or from any other less obvious cause, it is particularly apt to become common to those children which are born afterwards; insomuch that we often meet with a third, or a half, and, in a few instances, where the first-born has been thus affected, with every individual of the progeny, suffering from the same distressing evil. The late investigation in Ireland discovered families in which there were two, three,

four, or more, thus circumstanced. In one family there were five children all deaf and dumb; in another, seven; in another, ten; and in that of a poor militia officer on half-pay, there were nine born deaf and dumb in succession.'* Yet it is consoling to reflect that the defect is not always propagated to a succeeding generation when the deaf-dumb have married, and even when both the husband and wife have been thus afflicted." +

Dr. Prichard, in his Researches, already quoted, observes: "Children resemble, in feature and constitution, both parents, but I think more generally the father. In the breeding of horses and oxen great importance is attached by experienced propagators to the male. In sheep, it is commonly observed that black rams beget black lambs. In the human species, also, the complexion chiefly follows that of the father; and I believe it to be a general fact that the offspring of a black father and white mother is much darker than the progeny of a white father and a dark mother." (Vol. II., p. 551.) These facts appear to me to be referable to both causes. The stock must have had some influence, but the mother, in all these cases, is not impressed by her own colour, because she does not look on herself; while the father's complexion most strikingly attracts her attention, and may, in this way, give the darker tinge to the offspring.

4. The theory of the transmission of temporary mental and bodily qualities is supported by numerous facts tending to show that the state of the parents, particularly of the mother, at the time when the existence of the child commences, has a strong influence on its talents, dispositions, and health. The father of Napoleon Buonaparte," says Sir Walter Scott, "is stated to have possessed a very handsome person, a talent for eloquence, and a vivacity of intellect, which he transmitted to his son. It was in the middle of civil discord, fights, and skirmishes that Charles Buonaparte married Lætitia Ramolini, one of the most beautiful young women of the island, and possessed of a great deal of

"Quart. Jour. of Foreign Med.," Vol. I., p. 321.

+"Good's Study of Medicine," 4th edition, Vol. I., p. 419. The editor Mr. Samuel Cooper, adds, "Still, it is said that such propagation is not uncommon ("Edin. Med. Jour.," Vol. VII., p. 62); and as deafness is, without doubt, often hereditary, the experiment of marriage should be carefully avoided."

Black hens, however, lay dark-coloured eggs.

firmness of character. She partook of the dangers of her husband during the years of civil war, and is said to have accompanied him on horseback on some military expeditions, or perhaps hasty flights, shortly before her being delivered of the future Emperor."

The murder of David Rizzio was perpetrated by armed nobles, with many circumstances of violence and terror, in the presence of Mary, Queen of Scotland, shortly before the birth of her son, afterwards James I. of England. The constitutional timidity of this monarch is recorded as a characteristic, and it has been mentioned that he even started involuntarily at the sight of a drawn sword. Queen Mary was not deficient in courage, and the Stewarts, both before and after James I., were distinguished for this quality; so that his timid disposition was an exception to the family character. Napoleon and James form striking contrasts, and it may be remarked that the mind of Napoleon's mother appears to have risen to the danger to which she was exposed, and braved it; while the circumstances in which Mary was placed were such as must have inspired her with violent fear.

Esquirol, a celebrated French physician, in treating of the causes of mental derangement, mentions that many children whose existence dated from periods when the horrors of the French Revolution were at their height subsequently became weak, nervous, and irritable in mind, extremely susceptible of impressions, and liable to be thrown by the least extraordinary excitement into absolute insanity.

66

"I know," says the medical friend already referred to, an old gentleman who has been twice married. The children of his first marriage are strong, active, healthy people, and their children are the same. The produce of the second marriage are very inferior, especially in an intellectual point of view; and the younger the children are, the more is this obvious. The girls are superior to the boys, both physically and intellectually; indeed, their mother told me that she had great difficulty in rearing her sons, but none with her daughters. The gentleman himself, at the time of his second marriage, was upwards of sixty, and his wife about twenty-five. This shows very clearly that the boys have taken chiefly of the father, and the daughters of the mother."

*"Life of Napoleon Buonaparte," Vol. III., p. 6.