ATAVISM. Y5 



first, third, fifth, and seventh, of whom attained the 

 ordinary size, while the other four were dwarfs." 



In a family of eight children, four sons alternating 

 with four daughters, the sons were all healthy, while 

 the daughters were all affected with brain-disease 

 (hydrocephalus), the only one living being an infant 

 under treatment. 1 



From the persistent appearance of the defects in 

 these cases in regular alternate succession, we must 

 admit the probability, at least, of the existence of some 

 hereditary taint of the system, derived from ancestors 

 whose history we are unable to trace. 



In the chapter on " Sex " may be found cases in 

 which the defect is limited to one sex ; and this, in 

 families of both sexes, would result in an alternation 

 more or less regular in its inheritance. 



In a large family we seldom find all of the chil- 

 dren resembling either the father or the mother, and, 

 in many instances, the resemblance to a grandparent 

 or some more remote ancestor prevails to so great an 

 extent that the obvious peculiarities of the immediate 

 parents are obscured. Prof. Agassiz 3 has remarked 

 that " the offspring is not the offspring of father and 

 mother, but of grandparents as well," and he might 

 also have included all of the ancestors in the parental 

 enumeration. 



The alternations observed in the transmission of 

 ancestral characters, and the resemblance of offspring 



1 The last five cases are quoted from Mr. Sedgwick's paper on the 

 " Sexual Limitation of Hereditary Disease," in the British and Foreign 

 Medico- Chirurgical Review, July, 1861, pp. 141, 142, 146. 



3 "Agricultural Report of Massachusetts," 1866-'67, p. 82. 



