INTERNAL CAUSES OF VARIATION 



they all along maintained their supremacy in this direction." 

 Whatever this experiment proves or does not prove, it shows 

 conclusively that a fertilized Angora germ preserves and develops 

 its inherent characters perfectly in an exceedingly foreign envi- 

 ronment, on which it evidently depends only for nourishment. 



Mental impressions and nervous conditions are commonly in- 

 voked to explain birth marks and other natural abnormalities, such 

 as the loss of a finger. In this connection two facts are to be 

 carefully considered : first, there is certain to occur a large num- 

 ber of marks (" strawberry," " cucumber," and others) and many 

 malformations of one kind or another. Scarcely an individual is 

 absolutely free from something of the kind. Again, mothers are 

 subjected to all sorts of sights, sounds, and experiences during the 

 many weeks of embryonic development, and it would be strange 

 indeed if out of the thousands of cases some correspondence 

 between marks and experience could not be figured out, espe- 

 cially by one whose belief is fixed and who, having the case at 

 hand, needs only to find the proper " corresponding experience." 

 The law of chance alone will insure an occasional correspondence 

 between the two, entirely enough to start the tradition and 

 to maintain it afterward. As in theories concerning the control 

 of sex, any theory stated will be verified half the time because 

 there is but one alternative, so here, while the alternatives are 

 more, the correspondence is certain sometimes to appear under 

 the law of chance alone. 



Another fact to be reckoned with is that if the fetus were so 

 sensitive to mental impressions as to require the display of 

 properly colored blankets, if females were so susceptible as 

 this to surrounding sights, what a jumble of colors our domes- 

 tic animals would speedily display. In the opinion of the writer 

 this tradition has neither a scientific basis nor well-established 

 instances, and it is time it no longer occupied the minds of 

 breeders to the exclusion of far more important matters. In this 

 connection it is worthy of remark that if the average breeder 

 were half as familiar with important facts, and half as attentive 

 to their bearing upon his operations, as he is familiar with and 

 attentive to floating traditions, we should have a far smaller 

 proportion of worthless animals. 



