384 ORIGIN AND TRANSMISSION 



Native or congenital peculiarities of form, like those of 

 colour, are transmitted by generation. Hence we see a 

 general similitude in persons of the same blood ; and can 

 distinguish one brother by his resemblance to another, or 

 know a son by his likeness to the father or mother, or even 

 lo the grandfather or grandmother. All the individuals of 

 some families are characterized by particular lines of coun- 

 tenance ; and we frequently observe a peculiar feature con- 

 tinued in a family for many generations. The thick lip 

 introduced into the Imperial house of Austria, by the mar- 

 riage of the Emperor Maximilian with Mary of Burgundy, 

 is visible in their descendants to this day, after a lapse of 

 three centuries. Haller observes, that his own family 

 had been distinguished by tallness of stature for three ge- 

 nerations, without excepting one out of numerous grand- 

 sons descended from one grandfather *. 



Individuals are occasionally produced with supernume- 

 rary members on the hands or feet, or on both 5 and from 

 these, whether males or females, tlie organic peculiarity 

 frequently passes to their children. This does not con- 

 stantly happen, because they intermarry with persons of the 

 ordinary form ; but if the six-fingered and six- toed could be 

 matched together, and the breed could be preserved pure by 

 excluding all who had not these additional members, there is 

 no doubt that a permanent race might be formed constantly 

 possessing this number of fingers and toes. 



Pliny has mentioned examples of six-fingered persons 

 among the Romans : such individuals received the addi- 

 tional name of sedigitus or sedigita. C. Horatius had two 

 daughters with this peculiarity f. Reaumur speaks of a 

 family in which a similar structure existed for three genera- 

 tions, being transmitted both in the male and female lines J. 

 Mr. Carlisle has recorded the particulars of a family, in 

 which he traced supernumerary toes and fingers for four 

 generations. They were introduced by a female, who had 



* Elem. Physiol, lib. 29. sect. ii. ^ 8. 

 i Hist. Nat. lib. xi. 99. 

 i Art defaire eclorre les Oiseaux clomestiques, t. 2. p. 377 et suiv. 



