404 THE CAUSES OF THE 



XI 



in the form of a human member, in the person 

 of a Maltese, of the name of Gratio Kelleia, who 

 was born with six fingers upon each hand, and the 

 like number of toes to each of his feet. That 

 was a case of spontaneous variation. Nobody 

 knows why he was born with that number of 

 fingers and toes, and as we don't know, we call it 

 a case of " spontaneous " variation. There is 

 another remarkable case also. I select these, 

 because they happen to have been observed and 

 noted very carefully at the time. It frequently 

 happens that a variation occurs, but the persons 

 who notice it do not take any care in noting down 

 the particulars, until at length, when inquiries 

 come to be made, the exact circumstances are 

 forgotten; and hence, multitudinous as may be 

 such " spontaneous " variations, it is exceedingly 

 difficult to get at the origin of them. 



The second case is one of which you may find 

 the whole details in the " Philosophical Transac- 

 tions " for the year 1813, in a paper communicated 

 by Colonel Humphrey to the President of the 

 Royal Society " On a new Variety in the Breed 

 of Sheep/' giving an account of a very remarkable 

 breed of sheep, which at one time was well known 

 in the northern states of America, and which 

 went by the name of the Ancon or the Otter 

 breed of sheep. In the year 1791, there was a 

 farmer of the name of Seth Wright in Massa- 

 chusetts, who had a flock of sheep, consisting of a 



