4 On the PoJ]lbility of Matllat'ions in Bod'us 



came nature. Thole who liad the largcfi heads were co!i- 

 iklcred as the nobleft; and for this reafon the Macrocepbali 

 prelled the yet pliable tender heads of their children with 

 their hands, and forced them to extend in length by bandages 

 and other means. This artificial procefs gave occafion to the 

 fubfequent increafe of fize in the head among thefe people, 

 fo that artificial means were no longer requifite for that pur- 

 pofe." Hippocrates, however, adds in a fliort feftion : "That 

 in his time their heads had no longer that fingular form 

 completely, bccaufc they had entirely neglefted the above 

 artificial means of formation." But that this very little con- 

 tradifts his preceding account and opinion is (liewn by the 

 intermediate paffliges, where he endeavours to explain the 

 phenomenon from his well known theory of generation. 

 *' The generative matter," fays he, " is colletled from all 

 parts of the body. From found lx)dies it comes found, and. 

 froni difeafed bodies difeafed. Now, as bald heads, blue 

 eyes, and overgrown bodies are tranfmitted in families, and 

 the like rule takes place in other circumftances of conforma- 

 tion, why fl)ould not children with great heads be produced 

 by great headed parents?" Hippocrates, therefore, evidently 

 meant only that in the courfc of time Nature fometimes 

 abandons forms flie has affumcd, and returns again to the 

 original. 



Aril'totlc, in his work on the generation of animals, fpeak- 

 ing of the grounds on which the theory of Hippocrates re- 

 fpecling generation is founded, fays : " It is very probable 

 for this reafon, bcfidcs others, that children not only refemble 

 their parents in internal and innate properties, but even in 

 external marks wliich arc merely cafual ; for there are in- 

 ilances of moles being tranfmitted from parents to their 

 children, and on the very fame parts of the body. He him- 

 felf quotes a Chaldean, who, having a mole on his arm, tranf- 

 mitted it to his fon, though in the latter it was not fo appa- 

 rent as in the father. Pliny alfo, where he treats of marks, 

 moles, and the like, being fometimes inherited by children, 



adds. 



