FECUNDATION. 347 



in subsequent fecundations, the young are apt to partake 

 of the character of the first male, even if they be after- 

 ward bred with males of unimpeachable pedigree. What 

 the mechanism of the influence of the first conception is, we 

 can form no definite idea ; but the fact is incontestable. The 

 same influence is observed in the human subject. A woman 

 may have, by a second husband, children who resemble a 

 former husband, and this is particularly well marked in cer- 

 tain instances by the color of the hair and eyes. A white 

 woman who has had children by a negro may subsequently 

 bear children to a white man, these children presenting some 

 of the unmistakable peculiarities of the negro race. 



Superf ecundation 1 of course does not come in the cate- 

 gory of influences such as we have just mentioned. It is not 

 infrequent to observe twins, when two males have had access 

 to the female, which are entirely distinct from each other in 

 their physical character ; a fact which is readily explained by 

 the assumption that two ova have been separately fecun- 

 dated. This view is entirely sustained by observation and 

 experiment. Cases illustrating this point are numerous, but 

 we cite the two following, simply to add to the number of 

 positive observations. 



In May, 1869, we received the following written commu- 



1 Superfecundation, by which we mean the fecundation of a second ovum 

 after one has already been fecundated, certainly may take place, as has been 

 shown by cases of twins presenting entirely different physical characteristics. 

 The possibility of superfoetation, by which we understand fecundation of a sec- 

 ond ovum after the first has undergone considerable development, has been 

 doubted by many authors. In 1855, Prof. Barker reported a very interesting 

 case of double vagina with double uterus ; and this woman, having given 

 birth to a well-developed child, a boy, nine months and one day after her mar- 

 riage, seventy-four days after the birth of this child, was delivered of a girl. One 

 month after the birth of the second child, she was nursing both children, who 

 were doing well. (FORDYCE BARKER, Case of Superfoetation. American M<-<H- 

 <! Monthly, New York, 1855, vol. iv., p. 364.) Dr. A. E. M. Purdy, of New 

 York, has had for some time under observation the case of a young girl with a 

 double vagina and a double os uteri. A full report of this case will shortly be 

 published. 



