68 PRINCIPLES OF STOCK-BREEDING. 



time, a polled animal made its appearance in his herd, 

 with all the characteristics of the original breed. 1 



It is stated, on the authority of Mr. Sidney, that 

 in a litter of Essex pigs two young ones appeared with 

 marks of the Berkshire that had been used as a cross 

 twenty-eight years before. 2 



The occasional appearance of horns in the Gallo- 

 way, Suffolk, and other polled breeds that have been 

 bred pure for many years, furnishes an illustration of 

 the transmission of an original character by atavic 

 descent. 



Mr. Sedgwick says, " In the well-known case of 

 George III., the insanity was transmitted in the male 

 line, by atavic descent from a male ancestor, eight 

 generations back, in whom not only the insanity, but 

 many other of the well-known characteristics of the 

 unfortunate monarch, were exactly repeated." 8 ' 



In the case of a woman with a sixth finger on one 

 hand, related by Dr. Struthers, only one out of eigh- 

 teen children had an extra finger, and, in this case, 

 both hands were affected. One of the sons, James, 

 had two sons and seven daughters, all, like himself, 

 with the normal number of fingers. One of his 

 daughters, however, had a son with six fingers on each 

 hand. 



Two generations were thus free from the defect, 

 but, when it made its appearance in the next genera- 



1 " Principles of Breeding," p. 65. 



* "Animals and Plants under Domestication," vol. ii., p. 49 ; from 

 Youatt on " The Hog," 1860, p. 27. 



8 British and Foreign Medico- CJdrurgical Review, April, 1863, p. 

 467. See also " The Four Georges," by Thackeray, pp. 5, 6, 1861. 



