138 HEREDITY. 



morbid conditions of either parent seldom appear 

 in exact duplicate in the offspring ; moreover, the 

 union frequently results in the production of con- 

 ditions entirely unlike that in the parents. 



What has just been said of the union of morbid 

 and pathological tendencies is fortunately equally 

 true of all normal conditions. The physical 



strength as a whole or in any particular direc- 

 Resultsof Favor- . , . , 



able Unions. tion, and the mental and moral powers are alike 



subject to this law of dual parentage, and they are 

 ever producing qualities in the offspring unlike 

 those of either parent. Sometimes the results of 

 these combinations are so markedly different from 

 the parents as to seem almost incredible. At 



M , Iowa, the physicians brought me a little 



boy for psychological study who was exceptionally 

 bright. All his powers of perception, memory 

 and reason were extraordinary. This was dis- 

 cernible not only in his school studies, but was 

 also phenomenally marked in his studies of nature. 

 The physicians assured me that he was a born 

 genius. At the age of ten he was familiar with 

 every form of life in his section of the country. 

 He positively refused to play with other children, 

 but spent every spare moment in the fields gather- 

 A Bom Genius. * n s P ec i mens or m h* 8 room with the microscope. 

 He read all books within his reach bearing upon 

 natural history, and was ever eager to question 

 any one who could give him a fact. There was 

 nothing in either parent or in the ancestors, so 

 far as the family history could be traced on either 

 side, to produce such a superior mentality. I 

 made a careful study of both parents. The father 

 was very fine grained, sensitive, imaginative, 



