212 THE NEXT GENERATION 



whale, what do we know about its ancestors ? When we find gill- 

 slits in the embryo of any animal, what does this prove about its 

 ancestors ? Why is a rudiment called an " ancestral reminiscence "? 

 Describe the modern whale. What do its rudimentary legs and 

 its rudimentary teeth prove ? What do its embryo gill-slits prove ? 

 Taken altogether, what do we learn about the history of ancestral 

 whale life ? What is structural evidence ? Give Darwin's illustration. 

 What is embryological evidence ? Where do we find our geological 

 evidence ? What evidence does geography bring ? What evidence 

 comes from modern experiments ? Taken altogether, what do the 

 five kinds of evidence prove ? 



CHAPTER XI 



How did a certain woman try to make sure that her child should 

 be musical? Are children stamped by what the parents are in 

 themselves or by what the parents compel themselves to do ? How 

 did the friend know that the daughter would be persistent and not 

 musical ? For how long a time did women in China continue to 

 bind the feet of their daughters ? During what part of life were the 

 feet kept cramped ? What effect did the binding have on the feet of 

 the children of succeeding generations ? What is an acquired char- 

 acter ? (For definition see footnote.) If a woman crimps her hair, what 

 effect will this have on the hair of her children or of her children's 

 children ? In what way can curly hair be secured for one's de- 

 scendants ? Mention certain characters which may be acquired and 

 which are not passed on by inheritance. Describe trees that 

 are dwarfed in the gardens of Japan. How did they become so 

 dwarfed ? Judging by the appearance of the trees, what would one 

 expect their descendants to be ? In point of fact, is the condition 

 of being dwarfed passed on by inheritance ? When dogs, sheep, and 

 horses have their tails cut off for successive generations, what effect 

 does this have on the tails of their descendants ? What is a mutation ? 

 Speak of the mutation that appeared in a herd of well-horned cattle 

 in Paraguay in 1770. Why were the owners pleased with this 

 hornless animal ? What kind of descendants did it have ? Why 

 were the owners astonished at results ? What does Darwin tell us 



