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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



win mentions another case in his " Variation of 

 Animals and Plants under Domestication " : A 

 child had the odd habit of setting its fingers in 

 rapid motion whenever it was particularly pleased 

 with anything. When greatly excited, the same 

 child would raise the hand on both sides as high 

 as the eyes, with the fingers in rapid motion as 

 before. Even in old age he experienced a diffi- 

 culty in refraining from these gestures. He had 

 eight children, one of whom, a little girl, when 

 four years of age, used to set her fingers going, 

 and to lift up her hands after the manner of her 

 father. A still more remarkable case is described 

 by Gal ton. A gentleman's wife noticed that 

 when he lay fast asleep on his back in bed he 

 had the curious trick of raising his right arm 

 slowly in front of his face, up to his forehead, 

 and then dropping it with a jerk, so that the 

 wrist fell heavily on the bridge of his nose. The 

 trick did not occur every night, but occasionally, 

 and was independent of any ascertained cause. 

 Sometimes it was repeated incessantly for an 

 hour or more. The gentleman's nose was prom- 

 inent, and its bridge often became sore from 

 blows which it received. At one time an awk- 

 ward sore was produced that was long in healing, 

 on account of the recurrence, night after night, 

 of the blows which first caused it. His wife had 

 to remove the button from the wrist of bis night- 

 gown, as it made severe scratches, and some 

 means were attempted of tying his arm. Many 

 years after his death his son married a lady who 

 had never heard of the family incident. She, 

 however, observed precisely the same peculiarity 

 in her husband ; but his nose, from not being 

 particularly prominent, has never as yet suffered 

 from the blows. The trick does not occur when 

 he is half asleep, as, for example, when he is 

 dozing in his arm-chair ; but, the moment he is 

 fast asleep, he is apt to begin. It is, as with his 

 father, intermittent ; sometimes ceasing for many 

 nights, and sometimes almost incessant during a 

 part of every night. It is performed, as it was 

 with his father, with his right hand. One of his 

 children, a girl, has inherited the same trick. 

 She performs it, likewise with the right hand, 

 but in a slightly modified form ; for, after raising 

 the arm, she does not allow the wrist to drop 



the habit described, that a recent little brother of hers, 

 one of twins, and remarkably like her, has the same 

 habit, rocking his own cradle so vigorously as to dis- 

 turb her, sleeping in the next room, with the noise. 

 These two only of twelve children have had this curi- 

 ous habit •, but, as he is thirteen years younger than 

 she is, the force of the coincidence in point of time is 

 to some degree impaired. 



upon the bridge of the nose, but the palm of the 

 half-closed hand falls over and down the nose, 

 striking it rather rapidly — a decided improve- 

 ment on the father's and grandfather's idea. 

 The trick is intermittent in this girl's case also, 

 sometimes not occurring for periods of some 

 months, but sometimes almost incessantly. 



Strength in particular limbs or muscles is 

 often transmitted hereditarily. So, also, is skill 

 in special exercises. Thus, in the north country, 

 there are families of famous wrestlers. Among 

 professional oarsmen, again, we may note such 

 cases as the Clasper family in the north, the Mac- 

 kinneys in the south ; while among amateur oars- 

 men we have the case of the Play ford family, to 

 which the present amateur champion sculler be- 

 longs. In cricket, the Walker family and the 

 Grace family may be cited among amateurs, the 

 Humphreys among professional players. Grace 

 in dancing was transmitted for three generations 

 in the Vestris family. It must, however, be 

 noted that in some of these cases we may fairly 

 consider that example and teaching have had 

 much to do with the result. Take rowing, for 

 instance. A good oarsman will impart his style 

 to a whole crew if he rows stroke for them ; and 

 even if he only trains them (as Morrison, for in- 

 stance, trained the Cambridge crew a few years 

 ago), he will make good oarsmen of men suitably 

 framed and possessing ordinary aptitude for row- 

 ing. We remember well how a famous stroke- 

 oar at Cambridge imparted to one at least of the 

 university crew (a fellow-collegian of his, and 

 therefore rowing with him constantly also in his 

 college boat) so exact an imitation of his style 

 that one rather dusky evening, when the latter 

 was "stroking" a scratch four past a throng of 

 university men, a dispute arose as to which of 

 the two was really stroke of the four. Any one 

 who knows how characteristic commonly is the 

 rowing of any first-class stroke, and still more 

 any one who chances to know how peculiar was 

 the style of the university " stroke-oar " referred 

 to, will understand how closely his style must 

 have been adopted, when experienced oarsmen, 

 not many yards from the passing four, were un- 

 able to decide at once which of the two men was 

 rowing — even though the evening was dusky 

 enough to prevent the features of the stroke 

 (whose face was not fully in view at the moment) 

 from being discerned. Seeing that a first-rate 

 oarsman can thus communicate his style so per- 

 fectly to another, it cannot be regarded as de- 

 monstrably a case of hereditary transmission if 

 the Claspers rowed in the same style as their 



