lyS THE HISTOr.Y OF CREATION. 



and toes, four children may have a mixed number, and two 

 children may have the usual number of five on both hands 

 and feet. In a Spanish family, each child except the 

 youngest had the number six on both hands and feet; the 

 youngest, only, had the usual number on both hands and feet, 

 and the six-fingered father of the child refused to recognize 

 the last one as his own. 



The power of inheritance, moreover, shows itself very 

 strikingly in the formation and colour of the human skin 

 and hair. It is well known how exactly the nature of the 

 complexion in many families — for instance, a peculiar soft 

 or rough skin, a peculiar luxuriance of the hair, a peculiar 

 colour and largeness of the eyes — is transmitted through 

 many generations. In like manner, peculiar local growths 

 or spots on the skin, the so-called moles, freckles, and other 

 accumulations of pigment which appear in certain places, are 

 frequently transmitted through several generations so 

 exactly, that in the descendants they appear on the same 

 spots on which they existed in the parents. The porcupine 

 men of the Lambert family, who lived in London last cen- 

 tury, are especially celebrated. Edward Lambert, bom in 

 1717, was remarkable for a most unusual and monstrous 

 formation of the skin. His whole body was covered with a 

 horny substance, about an inch thick, which rose in the 

 form of numerous thorn-shaped and scale-like processes, 

 more than an inch long. This monstrous formation of the 

 outer skin, or epidermis, was transmitted by Lambert to his 

 sons and grandsons, but not to his granddaughters. The 

 transmission in this instance remained in the male line, as 

 is often the case. In like manner, an excessive develop- 

 ment of fat in certain parts of the body is often transmitted 



