TRANSMISSION OF CHARACTERISTICS 93 



but upon many combined. The skill of the workers 

 in jet at Whitby is said to be hereditary ; Bach was 

 the head of a great musical family, whose talent was 

 probably not all acquired ; there have been many 

 families of painters who must have had some heredi- 

 tary disposition to art. Brothers or a father and 

 son may have voices exactly alike. In Parliament 

 a few years ago there were two brothers who by their 

 voices might have been mistaken for each other ; the 

 same may be said of two actors, brothers, well known 

 at the present time on the English stage ; and of a 

 father and son who are distinguished journalists in 

 London. By the Countess Walewska Napoleon I. 

 had an illegitimate son who had exactly his father's 

 voice.^ Girou de Buzareingues records the case of a 

 man who in bed was accustomed to lie upon his back, 

 and to cross his right leg over his left, and whose in- 

 fant daughter constantly took the same position in the 

 cradle, despite the resistance of the swaddling clothes. 

 Heredity is also said to affect handwriting. 



Naturally the battle of heredity has had mainly to 



^ The Duchesse d'Abrantes remarked on this subject; "J'ai 

 retrouve la voix de Napoleon, de maniere k me faire tressaillir toutes 

 les fois qu'elle parvient h mon oreille : c'est dans le comte Walewska. 

 Cette ressemblanco d'origine est quelquefois d'une telle force qu'elle 

 fait mal." — Livi, Napoleone all' Isola d'Elba. 



