162 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF. 



unfavorable moral conditions under which they are gener- 

 ally reared. 



PREPOTENCE IN THE TRANSMISSION OF CHARACTER. 



Animals and When individuals, belonging to the same 

 Plants, Vol. family, but distinct enough to be recognized, 

 > P a S e • or w hen two well-marked races, or two spe- 

 cies, are crossed, the usual result, as stated in the pre- 

 vious chapter, is, that the offspring in the first genera- 

 tion are intermediate between their parents, or resemble 

 one parent in one part and the other parent in another 

 part. But this is by no means the invariable rule, for in 

 many cases it is found that certain individuals, races, and 

 species, are prepotent in transmitting their likeness. This 

 subject has been ably discussed by Prosper Lucas, but is 

 rendered extremely complex by the prepotency sometimes 

 running equally in both sexes, and sometimes more 

 strongly in one sex than in the other ; it is likewise com- 

 plicated by the presence of secondary sexual characters, 

 which render the comparison of crossed breeds with their 

 parents difficult. 



It would appear that in certain families some one an- 

 cestor, and after him others in the same family, have had 

 great power in transmitting their likeness through the 

 male line ; for we can not otherwise understand how the 

 same features should so often be transmitted after mar- 

 riages with many females, as in the case of the Austrian 

 emperors ; and so it was, according to Niebuhr, with the 

 mental qualities of certain Koman families. The famous 

 bull Favorite is believed to have had a prepotent influ- 

 ence on the short-horn race. It has also been observed 

 with English race-horses that certain mares have generally 

 transmitted their own character, while other mares of 



