CHAPTER IV 



COMMON MODES OF INHERITANCE 



" Lord, I find the genealogy of my Saviour strangely checkered with 

 four remarkable changes in four immediate generations. 



1. Roboam begat Abia ; that is, a bad father begat a bad son. 



2. Abia begat Asa ; that is, a bad father a good son. 



3. Asa begat Josaphat ; that is, a good father a good son. 



4. Josaphat begat Joram ; that is, a good father a bad son. 



I see, Lord, from hence, that my father's piety cannot be entailed ; 

 that is bad news for me. But I see also, that actual impiety is not always 

 hereditary ; that is good news for my son." THOMAS FULLER, Scripture 

 Observations, No. viii. 



I. Though Prediction in Individual Cases is insecure, 

 there are some Common Modes of Inheritance. 



2. Certain Necessary Saving Clauses. 



3. Blended Inheritance. 



4. Exclusive Inheritance (Unilateral, Absolutely Pre- 

 potent, or Preponderant). 



5. P articulate Inheritance. 



6. Alternative Inheritance. 



7. Summary of Possibilities. 



ESPECIALLY among the lower animals, the offspring sometimes 

 appear to us as if they were perfect reproductions of the parents, 

 and we venture to speak of complete hereditary resemblance. 

 Thus, in a crowd of Myriapods collected from one place at the 

 same time, no individual peculiarities could be detected. A 

 daughter-Hydra may be easily obtained which seems identical 

 with the parent. A series of generations of green-flies or Aphides 

 may be studied and no individual peculiarities discovered. 



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