1 86 A REMARKABLE ANTICIPATION OF 



strange views about the relative importance of the two 

 parents seem to have disappeared, and only traces of 

 them are to be found in the popular beliefs of the day. 



The author dismisses the extreme cases of the supposed 

 effect of the mother's imagination upon the unborn child 

 as manifestly absurd ; but looks with some favour upon 

 the opinion, also held by Erasmus Darwin, whom he 

 quotes, that the future offspring may be affected by the 

 imagination of the parent at the moment of conception. 

 In proof of the ancient origin of this belief he alludes to 

 Jacob's experiments upon the flocks of Laban. 



When, however, Prichard comes to reconsider all his 

 suggested causes of variation he is dissatisfied with them 

 and admits that ' the circumstances . . . are of a more per- 

 manent nature ', and that it is often ' impossible to discover 

 any peculiar circumstance in the condition of the mother '. 

 This leads him to consider the similar instances among 

 domestic animals and among plants, and at this point he 

 anticipates in a truly remarkable manner Darwin's general 

 conclusions as to the origin of our domestic breeds. 



' It is generally supposed,' he says on page 557, 'that 

 cultivation is the most productive cause of varieties in 

 the kind, both in the animal and vegetable kingdom. 

 But it may be questioned, does cultivation actually give 

 rise to entirely new varieties, or does it only foster and 

 propagate those which have sprung up naturally, or as 

 it is termed accidentally ? 



' In this latter way the influence of art is very important 

 in constituting breeds, as of cattle, dogs, horses. The 

 artificial process consists in a careful selection of those 

 individual animals which happen to be possessed, in 

 a greater degree than the generality, of any particular 

 characters which it is desirable to perpetuate. These are 

 kept for the propagation of the stock, and a repeated 

 attention is paid to the same circumstances, till, the effect 

 continually increasing, a particular figure, colour, propor- 

 tion of limbs, or any other attainable quality, is established 

 in the race, and the uniformity of the breed is afterwards 

 maintained by removing from it any new variety which 

 may casually spring up in it' 



