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36 THE ORGANIC GROWTH OF THE LIVING WORLD sec. 



manner, either witli one another or with cliaracters of 

 ancestors present in a latent condition, quite new combina- 

 tions, as in the union of different chemical substances or 

 elements. 



But on the other hand, to avoid exaggeration of the effects 

 of sexual combinations, it must be pointed out how often the 

 offspring retain unaltered the characters either of the father 

 or the mother, how often one-sided inheritance takes place. 



Every nursery, especially in South Germany, where blonde 

 and black hair together with blue or gray and black eyes are 

 seen side by side, will show this. I mention, for simplicity's 

 sake, hair and eyes only. But it is often obviously a question 

 of a whole series of correlative characters, colour of the skin, 

 strength of the bone structures, shape of head — in brief, of 

 more Germanic or more Eomance race. 



Dark and fair parents together do not usually produce 

 children which in colour are intermediate between them, but 

 fair and dark again.^ Only when the offspring continue this 



^ A remarkable confirmation of this is afforded by squirrels. Black and red 

 young ones of the same litter are often found in a nest, but intermediate forms 

 not so often. A similar assertion might be made of black and white sheep, 

 although here artificial selection may contribute to the prevention of mixture ; 

 but I am assured by farmers that the colour of the wool is not so very important, 

 because it is usually, at least in Germany, dyed of a dark colour. In any case, 

 intermediate forms between black and white are very seldom found among sheep. 

 I was particularly struck by this in Bulgaria, and in the Balkan peninsula 

 generally, also in Italy, where one sees, besides the pure white, very many pure 

 black sheep, but scarcely ever a mixed form in the pasturing herds. Such mixed 

 forms are piebald. Landowners skilled in breeding horses tell me that from 

 the union of black and white horses, as a rule, not intermediately coloured, or 

 piebald foals result, but black or white again. 



Very important in this question is of coixrse the result of various inter- 

 breedings of races of men. Here also it would seem that a complete mean is 

 not the rule. Thus Levaillant, 1793, speaks of the number of white slaves at 

 the Cape of Good Hope, which were derived from the crossing between Dutch 

 soldiers and slave negresses (mostly from Madagascar and Mozambique), and 

 which in colour completely resembled Europeans. Likewise the hybrids between 

 Hottentots and Europeans (in which case the Europeans mostly if not exclusively 

 have furnished the male element) resemble the Europeans more than the Hotten- 

 tots (male preponderance). Dr. Bernard Schwarz similarly speaks in his account 



