690 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



upon possessing and transmitting small hands, the outward and visible 

 sign of long exemption from manual labor. The aristocracy of China 

 pride themselves on the smallness of their feet. The implication is in 

 each case the same. We often speak of " blue blood " without any 

 clear idea of the meaning of the expression. The phrase probably 

 arose from the recognition of the fact, that the aristocratic and luxu- 

 rious classes, who are exempt from actual labor, possess a fine white 

 skin, through which the veins show themselves clearly, and that this 

 peculiarity is transmitted from generation to generation. It is a fact 

 of history that Frederick William I of Prussia succeeded in producing 

 a stock of gigantic grenadiers by matching his tallest soldiers with 

 women of similar proportions. 



No point of structure is too minute to afford instances of the law 

 of inheritance. A little spot on the iris has been transmitted from 

 parent to child. The possession of a few abnormally long hairs in the 

 eyebrows has been known to characterize the various members of cer- 

 tain families ; and the characteristic of a patch of prematurely gray 

 hair has been transmitted through several generations. Many curious 

 records exist of families which possessed and gloried in their scars, 

 moles, and other family marks, faithfully transmitted from parent to 

 child — a sort of secret hall-mark stamped by Nature to attest the genu- 

 ineness of the line. Peculiarities in the structure, arrangement, and 

 even in the chemical composition of the teeth, frequently run in fami- 

 lies. The writer, among whose professional duties the frequent in- 

 spection of tongues holds a humble but not unimportant place, has 

 remarked a notable peculiarity in the shape of that organ transmitted 

 from mother to daughter. 



Peculiarities in the expression of the face are frequently inherited. 

 Many cases may be remarked where an inherited resemblance is quite 

 latent when the features are in repose, but comes out with startling 

 vividness when they are agitated by emotion. Among the acquaint- 

 ances of the writer is a gentleman who, when smiling, exhibits a most 

 peculiar and unusual arrangement of lines at the outer angle of the 

 eyes, and this characteristic has been faithfully transmitted to his 

 children. 



When we turn to the lower animals, the instances of striking pe- 

 culiarities being inherited are still more numerous, and have been re- 

 corded with greater care and accuracy. Every breeder and trainer is 

 aware of the vast importance of the law of inheritance, and no in- 

 stance is allowed to escape notice ; but it is only in recent years that 

 philosophers have become alive to the fact that in his physical nature 

 man obeys the ordinary biological laws which prevail among the 

 higher animals, and that among these laws the law of inheritance 

 holds the first place. A breed of cattle once existed which possessed 

 only one horn, and this was transmitted. A one-antlered stag has 

 been known to propagate this peculiarity in his offspring. A rabbit 



