ACQUIRED AND ABNORMAL CHARACTERS. 4.9 



Carpenter, in discussing the heredity of acquired 

 habits, says, " There seems to be reason to believe that 

 such hereditary transmission is limited to acquired 

 peculiarities which are simply modifications of the 

 natural constitution of the race, and would not extend 

 to such as may be altogether foreign to it." * 



From a practical point of view, however, the in- 

 heritance of acquired characters, so far as they are of 

 any value, is, fortunately, without any apparent limit. 



Abnormal characters are frequently hereditary, 

 but they are not so likely to be transmitted as acquired 

 habits that are in harmony with the original peculiari- 

 ties of the animal. 



The following examples will sufficiently illustrate 

 this form of inheritance : 



Gratio Kelleia, the Maltese, " was born with six 

 fingers upon each hand, and a like number of toes to 

 each of his feet." He " married when he was twenty- 

 two years of age, and, as I suppose there were no six- 

 fingered ladies in Malta,. he married an ordinary five- 

 fingered person. 



" The result of that marriage was four children : the 

 first, Salvator, had six fingers and toes, like his father ; 

 the second was George, who had five fingers and five 

 toes, but one of them was deformed, showing a ten- 

 dency to variation ; the third was Andre he had five 

 fingers and five toes, quite perfect ; the fourth was a 

 girl, Marie she had five fingers and five toes, but her 

 thumbs were deformed, showing a tendency toward 

 the sixth. These children grew up, and, when they 

 came to adult years, they all married, and of course it 



1 " Mental Physiology," p. 104. 



