ZOOLOGY. 343 



always breeding from the progeny with greyhounds, subsequently to 

 the first bull-dog cross. It would be curious to inquire whether the 

 greyhound bitch subsequently breeding with pure greyhound, her 

 progeny would show a similar transmission of the courage of the bull- 

 dog, as we have seen it take place in the markings of the quagga, and 

 the worthless peculiarities of the cur. 



Now, we only too well know that many diseases are capable of 

 hereditary transmission, some more, some less ; and I cannot but think 

 the facts I have alluded to lend some color to the thought, that even 

 as physical peculiarities, so may diseases, be transmitted by the fe- 

 male, though herself and the actual father of her second progeny, as 

 well as all their ancestors, may be free from any taint. In other 

 words, it would seem far from improbable that if a woman married, 

 and had a child by a man who died the subject of any well-marked 

 hereditary disease, and she subsequently married and had children by 

 her second husband, her first husband's disease would have a tendency 

 to show itself in her second family, even though neither she nor her 

 second husband, or their ancestors, were subject to the malady. I 

 presume that one point would be necessary to this, namely, that at 

 the time of impregnation by the first husband, he was then either ab- 

 solutely suffering from or very strongly predisposed to the disease 

 transmitted. The investigation of this very curious and interesting 

 question would incidentally throw much more light on how far consti- 

 tutional peculiarities and diseases, such as gout, tubercle, insanity, 

 etc., may be communicated by seminal transmission to the female, and 

 be of considerable importance in determining many medical and social 

 questions, as the first husbands of widows, who re-marry and bear 

 children, have frequently died of the severer forms of disease well 

 known to be capable of hereditary transmission. 



HALLUCINATIONS. 



One of the most curious of recent contributions to science is a trea- 

 tise on Hallucinations and kindred Mental Phenomena, by M. Briene_ 

 du Boismond, a French medical writer of eminence. The object of 

 the author is to establish the theory that in all cases of hallucination 

 the physician, quoting that term in its strictest sense, might trace a 

 physical cause, detect some flaw or change in the bodily system, were 

 he enabled, by the progress of science, to pursue his investigations far 

 enough. Ten classes of hallucinations are tabulated. The first con- 

 tains such as co-exist with a sound understanding, whether or not cor- 

 rected by the mind. These affect the sight, hearing, smelling, tasting, 

 and touching faculties. In the second we have simple forms of insan- 

 ity, uncomplicated by mania or dementia. Next stand those which 

 are thus complicated. The results of excess, whether in drinking, 

 the use of narcotics, and the introduction of poison into the system, 

 occupy a category apart. Then come the ghastly variety of nervous 

 diseases, from catalepsy to hydrophobia, followed by nightmare and 

 dreams, ecstasy, hallucinations connected with febrile maladies, and 

 " epidemic hallucinations." The definition given by M. Du Boismond 

 of a hallucination is as follows : 



" We define a hallucination as the perception of the sensible signs 



