INFLUENCE OF MALE AND FEMALE PARENT 119 



missible by the mother likewise. It rarely, if ever, 

 happens, however, that an exact balance of the 

 paternal and maternal qualities is struck in the cliild. 

 One or other influence preponderates — it may be the 

 father's or it may be the mother's ; and this is not to 

 be wondered at when we reflect that in every act of 

 generation the rival heredities of the parents, so to 

 speak, are brought into conflict, and that the offspring 

 is a more or less fortuitous combination of the two. 



As Lucas puts it : " There is no individual who 

 can be said to bear in his organisation or in his mode 

 of life the stamp of one of his parents alone. In 

 one part of his system the mother, in another the 

 father, predominates ; certain organs or faculties may 

 be derived from the mother, others from the father, 

 and in others, again, the parental influence may be 

 equal." Girou de Buzareingues, whose book, De la 

 G6n4ration, is a curious storehouse of facts and experi- 

 ments, declares that physical configuration, including 

 will and intelligence, is transmitted more frequently 

 and more perfectly from father to daugliter, and from 

 mother to son, than otherwise ; but that the mechan- 

 ism of the vital functions, including the sentiments, 

 passes usually from parent to child of the same sex.^ 



* Baillarger, analysing 571 cases of hereditary insanity, found 



