XI PHENOMENA OF ORGANIC NATURE = 405 
ram and, I think, of some twelve or thirteen ewes. 
Of this flock of ewes, one at the breeding-time 
bore a lamb which was very singularly formed ; it 
had a very long body, very short legs, and those 
legs were bowed. I will tell you by and by how 
this singular variation in the breed of sheep came 
to be noted, and to have the prominence that it 
now has. For the present, I mention only these 
two cases ; but the extent of variation in the breed 
of animals is perfectly obvious to any one who has 
studied natural history with ordinary attention, or 
to any person who compares animals with others 
of the same kind. It is strictly true that there 
are never any two specimens which are exactly 
alike ; however similar, they will always differ in 
“some certain particular. 
_ Now let us go back to Atavism—to the here- 
ditary tendency I spoke of. What will come of a 
-yariation when you breed from it, when Atavism 
comes, if I may say so, to intersect variation ? 
‘The two cases of which I have mentioned the 
history give a most excellent illustration of what 
occurs. Gratio Kelleia, the Maltese, married when 
he was twenty-two years of age, and, as I suppose 
‘there were no six-fingered ladies in Malta, he 
Mmarried an ordinary five-fingered person. The 
result of that marriage was four children; the 
first, who was christened Salvator, had six fingres 
and six toes, like his father; the second was 
George, who had five fingers and toes, but one of 
