ATAVISM. 149 



of Sir Isaac Newton's brother. The boy was a 

 Newton in temperament and brain form. To be 

 sure, there may have been other causes, but in 

 the absence of any other adequate cause it would 

 seem like a clear case of atavism. 



The reappearance of dormant forces, whether 

 good or evil, does not necessarily produce the 

 same condition that existed in the ancestors. The 

 latent forces are influenced and modified by fac- 

 tors that were absent or did not exist in the same 

 strength in the ancestry. For instance, insanity 

 in a highly nervous temperament often reappears 

 in succeeding generations in the form of eccen- 

 tricities, strange peculiarities of character, melan- 

 choly or even special genius. In like manner, par- 

 ticular tastes or talents for art, science, literature 

 or mechanics frequently reappear in a modified 

 form. 



