HEREDITARY VARIATION 69 



different sexes and different makes and temperaments, and 

 as the offspring is to be either of one sex or the other, it is 

 quite clear that it cannot be an exact diagonal of the two, 

 or it would be of no sex at all ; it cannot be an exact 

 intermediate form between that of each of its parents it 

 must deviate to one side or the other. You do not find 

 that the male follows the precise type of the male parent, 

 nor does the female always inherit the precise characteristics 

 of the mother, there is always a proportion of the female 

 character in the male offspring, and of the male character 

 in the female offspring. That must be quite plain to all 

 of you who have looked at all attentively on your own 

 children or those of your neighbours ; you will have noticed 

 how very often it may happen that the son shall exhibit 

 the maternal type of character, or the daughter possess the 

 characteristics of the father's family. There are all sorts 

 of intermixtures and intermediate conditions between the 

 two, where complexion, or beauty, or fifty other different 

 peculiarities belonging to either side of the house, are 

 reproduced in other members of the same family. Indeed, 

 it is sometimes to be remarked in this kind of variation, 

 that the variety belongs, strictly speaking, to neither of 

 the immediate parents ; you will see a child in a family 

 who is not like either its father or its mother ; but some 

 old person who knew its grandfather or grandmother, or, it 

 may be, an uncle, or, perhaps, even a more distant relative, 

 will see a great similarity between the child and one of 

 these. In this way it constantly happens that the charac- 

 teristic of some previous member of the family comes out 

 and is reproduced and recognized in the most unexpected 

 manner. 



But apart from that matter of general experience, there 

 are some cases which put that curious mixture in a very 

 clear light. You are aware that the offspring of the Ass 

 and the Horse, or rather of the he-Ass and the Mare, is 

 what is called a Mule ; and, on the other hand, the offspring 

 of the Stallion and the she-Ass is what is called a Hinny. 

 It is a very rare thing in this country to see a Hinny. I 

 never saw one myself ; but they have been very carefully 

 studied. Now, the curious thing is this, that although 

 you have the same elements in the experiment in each 

 case, the offspring is entirely different in character, according 

 as the male influence comes from the Ass or the Horse. 

 Where the Ass is the male, as in the case of the Mule, you 



