146 TELEGONY 



liarities in the children by the second male. But it is perhaps 

 enough to say that it is difficult to get at the truth in such cases. 



Cornevin (1891, p. 356) gives the following case. The widow of 

 a hypospadic man had by a second and normal husband four hypo- 

 spadic sons, two of whom transmitted the abnormality {Lancet, 1884). 

 But in a case like this we require further particulars — e.g. as to the 

 normality of the mother, and as to any tendency to hypospadism 

 both in her ancestry and in that of her second husband. 



Cornevin also cites the case of a woman married to a deaf-mute, 

 by whom she had one deaf-mute child. By a second normal husband 

 she had a deaf-mute child, and then others who were normal 

 (Ladreit de Lacharriere, in preface to Goguillot's Comment on fait 

 parley les sourds-muets, Paris, 1889). But here again it is necessary 

 to know whether there was any tendency to deaf-mutism on the 

 mother's side or in the ancestry of her second husband. 



Dogs. — It is the deeply rooted opinion of dog-breeders — doubtless 

 resting on a basis of experience, though it may be misinterpreted 

 experience — that a bitch of good stock once lined by a mongrel is spoilt 

 for further prize-breeding. It is said that many valuable bitches 

 have been sacrificed because of this deeply rooted opinion. 



The following case is cited by Cornevin (1891, pp. 356-7), from 

 Kiener (1890). An Artesian bitch was first lined by a wall-eyed 

 mastiff, and afterwards by an Artesian dog. Among the pups born 

 to the latter one was wall-eyed. One requires to know how fre- 

 quently a wall-eyed variation crops up, and whether there was any 

 occurrence of it in the ancestry of the mother or of the second 

 male. 



Darwin (1868) gives the case of a hairless Turkish bitch which was 

 lined by a spaniel, and had some hairless pups and some with short 

 hair. She was subsequently paired with a hairless Turkish dog, but 

 the offspring were as before. It must again be asked whether there 

 may not have been some spaniel strain in the previous ancestry. 



Spencer (1893) tells of a Dachshund bitch which was paired with 

 a collie and had a hybrid litter. The following year she bore to a 

 Dachshund a similar hybrid litter. But we require to know how 

 thorouglily pure-bred the Dachshund mother and father were. 



Perhaps the most useful comment on the cases of reported telegony 

 in dogs is that made by Prof. Cossar Ewart (1901): "When it 

 is remembered that we are surprisingly ignorant of the origin of the 

 various breeds of dogs, and that, however pure the breed, reversion 



