Y4 PRINCIPLES OF STOCK-BREEDING. 



bred from parents with tails, there must be reversion 

 again to the tailless form. From the facts, as now 

 understood, it appears that two antagonistic characters 

 are alike inherited, either one of which may become 

 dominant in the offspring. 



The alternation of the character, in different gen- 

 erations, may thus be produced by the development 

 of the one or the other of two characters belonging 

 as strictly to the organization, through inheritance, as 

 any other part of the system. 



Although we may not be able, in the following 

 cases, to trace the principle of alternation in atavic 

 descent, they are, nevertheless, of interest in this con- 

 nection, from their close resemblance, in some respects, 

 to the cases under discussion. 



" A physician at Marseilles relates a case in which 

 deafness from birth occurred in three children alter- 

 nately in a family of six. The parents were not af- 

 fected. . . . M . Saissy refers to a family living at Aix, 

 in Savoy, composed of seven children : the eldest is 

 deaf and dumb, the second hears perfectly, the third 

 is deaf and dumb, and the fourth enjoys the same ad- 

 vantage as the second; the fifth, sixth, and last, are 

 completely deaf the last but one (the sixth) in this 

 case being an idiot. There was no defect in either 

 parent. ... A similar case occurs in the commune 

 of Bessenay, department of the Rhone ; in a family 

 composed of eight children four .are deaf and dumb, 

 and alternate with four who enjoy the sense of hear- 

 ing." 



Claude relates the case "of a woman who gave 

 birth to eight children of one and the other sex, the 



