ATAVISM. 147 







In like manner the law of dual parentage may 

 be most potential in calling latent qualities into 

 action and re-establishing former conditions. For Combination O f 

 instance, if any morbid condition, element of ge- 

 nius, or trait of character peculiar to a family has 

 disappeared for a time, a union with one whose 

 qualities are favorable may produce in the off- 

 spring the ancestral trait. It has been observed 

 that in cases where there is dormant scrofula, con- 

 sumption, or some other morbid condition, the 

 union of such a person with one having a fever- 

 ish or highly nervous temperament produces de- 

 generate offspring. Again, it frequently occurs 

 that where one parent has a certain hereditary 

 taste or talent that is not manifest in his or her 

 life a favorable union will give to the off spring slumbering 



as a manifest character the taste or talent of thel** 1 *?** 



Awakened* 



distant ancestor. Through the law of combina- 

 tions both good and evil qualities that have been 

 slumbering for generations reappear in a more or 

 less modified form. 



To the student of heredity atavism is one of its 

 most interesting factors; to be sure, it is always 

 an unknown quantity, but intermittency both of Intermittent 

 the morbid and the normal traits of families are 

 so marked as to offer but little difficulty in trac- 

 ing the law. Some years ago I observed a family 

 in which the father was extremely overbearing, 

 stubborn and egotistical ; the 'mother seemed to- 

 tally wanting in these traits, being a most amiable, 

 conformative and considerate character. Their 

 eldest, daughter resembled the father very much 

 in many ways, but seemed wholly without his un- 

 desirable qualities. Throughout her entire life 



