Prepotent Sons of Hambletonian 163 



men who underrated the abihty of George Wilkes. 

 His contention was that the vitality-sapping race 

 campaigns had weakened his power of transmis- 

 sion. He overlooked the fact that change of 

 climate and complete relaxation had restored the 

 vitality used up in the training stable. August 

 Weismann tells us that the most active birds 

 have long lives. The stormy petrel lays only a 

 single ^gg once a year, because through wonder- 

 ful activity the species can be preserved without 

 resort to large families. Jungle fowls that fly 

 badly lay about 20 eggs each. The track horse 

 certainly leads an active life, and the devel- 

 opment of gait enables him to transmit with a 

 higher degree of uniformity the acquired or in- 

 tensified character. The use of an organ increases 

 and the disuse of it decreases its capacity. While 

 germ cells to a degree limit growth, we obtain 

 size by an increase of nourishment from genera- 

 tion to generation. Haeckel's theory of reproduc- 

 tion is that it is an overgrowth of an individual 

 — that heredity is simply a continuity of growth. 

 The trotting brain, the trotting instinct, of George 

 Wilkes was certainly duplicated in his progeny, 

 and therefore there was continuity of growth in 

 this direction. 



