204 Heredity. 



this class of phenomena, and P. Lucas did well in calling fresh 

 attention to the matter, and citing facts in its favour. 



1 It has been long remarked that children begotten in a fit of 

 intoxication often present for ever after the characteristic signs of 

 that state : obtuse senses, and the almost total absence of the 

 intellectual faculties. I had occasion at Toulouse, during my brief 

 medical career, to observe a fact of this kind. A couple of 

 artisans, man and wife, belonging to families all of whose members 

 were of sound mind and body, had four children. The first two of 

 these were quiet and intelligent, the third was half-idiotic and 

 nearly deaf, and the fourth was like the elder two. From details 

 communicated to me by the mother, who was much afflicted by the 

 mental state of her child, I learned that it had been conceived 

 when the father was brutalized by drink. By itself, this fact would 

 have little or no significance, but when added to those collected 

 by Lucas, Morel, and others, it is of very great importance/ * In 

 fact, it enables us to understand that those transitory states which 

 exist at the moment of conception may exert a decisive influence 

 on the nature of the being procreated, so that often, where now 

 we see only spontaneity, a more perfect knowledge of the causes 

 at work would show us heredity. 



But it may be said that the causes classed under the foregoing 

 heads explain the exceptions very insufficiently. It may be said : 

 We have no hesitation in admitting that heredity, like every other 

 law, is subject to conditions; that since these conditions are 

 numerous and delicate it is impossible to realize them perfectly, 

 and that consequently hereditary transmission always falls far 

 beneath its ideal. But is it not going too far to pretend, as you 

 do, that transitory, accidental causes can produce in the beings 

 that are procreated radical metamorphoses ? We can understand 

 how from parents of but mediocre intellect should spring a child 

 more intelligent than they ; but could a man of genius ? How 

 could a consummate scoundrel descend from honourable and 

 honest parents ? And there is a multitude of such cases. 



Without pretending to give a conclusive answer, we propose to 

 set before the reader a certain number of facts and reflections 



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1 Quatrefages, Unite de VEsptce Humaine. 



