UNIT CHARACTERS 165 



' Vom Vater hab' ich die Statur, 

 Des Lebens ernstes Fuhren, 

 Vom Mutterchen die Frohnatur 

 Und Lust zu fabulieren.' 



In such a case we must always look upon the corre- 

 sponding character of the second parent as existing 

 in the offspring side by side with the character which 

 finds expression, only the former is overpowered by 

 the latter, and forced to remain invisible. That the 

 hidden character is nevertheless actually present is 

 shown by the fact that a feature characteristic of a 

 particular grandparent, which did not appear in the 

 parent, may reappear in the child. For instance, a 

 characteristic masculine feature of the maternal grand- 

 father may thus make its appearance in the son. 



It is found that any individual may be looked upon 

 as being to a large extent an aggregation of separate 

 characteristics. In a pair of allied races a great 

 number of the separate characters are the same in 

 the two cases, the distinction between the two forms 

 depending upon a few definite features only. The 

 majority of salient characteristics are identical in such 

 a pair, but some of the corresponding characters are 

 opposed. Thus in different races of mankind com- 

 plexions may be dark or fair, eyes blue or brown, 

 hair straight or curly, and the like. Now the off- 

 spring of parents which had smooth and curly hair 

 respectively might exhibit smooth or curly or inter- 

 mediate (wavy) hair, according as one or the other 

 character, or both in combination, made its presence 

 obvious ; for in the simplest cases both will necessarily 



