798 



GENERATION. 



physical characters ; a fact which is readily explained by the assumption that 

 two ova have been separately fecundated. This view is entirely sustained by 

 observation and experiment. Many cases illustrating this point are on record. 



The following communication, with a photograph, was received in Janu- 

 ary, 1869, from Dr. John H. Janeway, Assistant Surgeon, U. S. A., and it 

 illustrates superfecundation in the human subject ; or at least that was the 

 view taken by the negro father : 



" Frances Hunt, a freedwoman, aged thirty-five years, gave birth to 

 twins, February 4, 1867, in New Kent County, Virginia. One of these 

 twins was black, the other was white. Frances is a mulatto. The black 



FIG. 292.- Mulatto mother with twins, one white and the other black (from a photograph). 



child is much darker than she is. Previous to the parturition, she had 

 given birth to seven children, all single births. She was living at the time 

 of her impregnation in the family of a white man as house-servant, sleep- 

 ing with a black man at night. She insists, however, that she never had 

 carnal intercourse with a white man. She probably does this because the 

 black man turned her out of his house when he saw that one of the chil- 

 dren was white. The only negro feature in the white child was its nose. 

 There, its resemblance to its mother was perfect. Its hair was long, light 

 and silky. Complexion brilliant." 



