HEREDITY OF NORMAL CHARACTERS. 15 



The most successful American trotting-horses are 

 said to belong to but three families, and of these the 

 Messenger is thought to be the best, as it has fur- 

 nished a larger number of fast trotters than any 

 other. 1 



There are families that inherit that peculiar or- 

 ganic structure of ear, nervous system, and vocal or- 

 gans, that gives rise to what is recognized as musical 

 talent. One of the most remarkable instances of this 

 form of heredity on record is that of the family of 

 Sebastian Bach. " It began in 1550, and continued 

 through eight generations. . . . During a period of 

 nearly two hundred years this family produced a mul- 

 titude of artists of the first rank. ... Its head was 

 Weit Bach, a baker of Presburg, who used to seek 

 relaxation from labor in music and song. He had 

 two sons, who commenced that unbroken line of mu* 

 sicians of the same name that for nearly two centuries 

 overran Thuringia, Saxony, and Franconia. . . . They 

 were all organists or church-singers. ... In this fam- 

 ily are reckoned twenty-nine eminent musicians." a 



The feeding quality, or tendency to lay on fat, 

 which is one of the most important characteristics of 

 the meat-producing breeds of animals, is also heredi- 

 tary. In each distinctive breed, where the production 

 of meat is the leading quality, there are certain fami- 

 lies that excel in this direction. 



It has been claimed that the predisposition to 

 obesity is so strong in many cases that it is observed 



1 " Horse Portraiture," by Simpson, p. 303. 



8 Ribot on " Heredity," p. 63 ; Carpenter's " Mental Physiology," 

 p. 273. 



